Tune into a few productivity gurus, and it’s tempting to believe that a nap is a superpower: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a route towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite footballers do it regularly – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or employment that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” explains an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to wanting: you have an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The primary task to do, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not at the level required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This implies that naps shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on the time you retire overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the perfect length of minutes, yet that often make people feel more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research indicates it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend using the same protocol you use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the space your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – such as, if attempting to fit in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
