Listen to a few performance experts, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, better spirits and maybe quicker running times. Professional footballers do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a leading circadian rhythm professor. “One is termed compensatory napping, essentially what happens after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is preparatory napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss in the future, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a moment to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap because your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep must not be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on what time you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – while if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it may impact your sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose using similar routines you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that you should just doze on a couch in the existing light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination present to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to grab a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
