Hear a few self-improvement gurus, and you'll be tempting to believe that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a job that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call compensatory napping, essentially the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to wanting: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors beyond your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not where required. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on what time you retire overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this counted a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
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. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose employing similar routines one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could merely snooze on a couch in the existing light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” says a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to start the process initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
