Hear enough self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to convince yourself that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” notes a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for instance when working overnight shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get a chance to doze during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – such as, for a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much advice around concerning the optimal amount of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it is preferable to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend using similar routines you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to grab a quick nap on a train or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
