Listen to plenty of performance gurus, and it’s simple to think that napping is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do musicians, UFC champions and media moguls. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” says a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “One is known as make-up sleep, which is the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, such as when working overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply is about desire: you have a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons beyond your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on when you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies suggests it's more effective to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest employing the same protocol one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should simply nap in a chair in whatever light is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
