Tune into a few self-improvement experts, and it’s easy to think that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster following restless night, but a route towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players swear by it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and high-profile executives. But if you lack a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “The first is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for example when working overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: you get a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping because your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most referenced research on the subject, experts found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science would say it's more effective to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest using the same protocol one would use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze in a chair in whatever light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and practically command yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure present to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a time where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
