Listen to enough self-improvement experts, and it’s simple to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players swear by it – as do musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. But if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” says a leading sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Another is preparatory napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to desire: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to examine why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This implies that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on what time you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa found that crew members had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
