Hear a few self-improvement experts, and you'll be tempting to think that dozing is a superpower: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, improved mood and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players are all at it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a job that permits frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains an expert circadian rhythm professor. “One is termed make-up sleep, that is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Another is prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to wanting: there is an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not where it should be. In such situations, napping can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on when you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study on the subject, experts noted that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts propose adopting similar routines you use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to nod off. You need some drive there to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – for example, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
