Hear enough self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. But if you lack a room for napping or a job that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” explains a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to the wish: you get a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, therefore, is to think about your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping because your sleep at night is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study on the subject, experts found that space travelers had a boost of up to 54% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “The science indicates it’s better to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose adopting comparable habits you use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” notes an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically command yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination present to start the process initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
