Hear enough performance experts, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers swear by it – as do concert pianists, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or employment that allows frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” notes an expert sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, that is what happens following insufficient sleep overnight. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to wanting: you get a chance to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (based on when you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists noted that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of minutes, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science suggests it is preferable to have 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 deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend using the same protocol you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch in whatever light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – such as, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
