Listen to plenty of productivity experts, making it easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Elite footballers are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or a job that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is termed make-up sleep, that is what happens following a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for example during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about wanting: you have an opportunity to nap during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The initial step to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap since your night sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that naps ought not to be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on what time you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From the most referenced research on the subject, experts found that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in alertness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations about the ideal number of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies would say it’s better to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for a long period, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals propose adopting the same protocol you use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that you should just doze on the sofa in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to force,” explains an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
