Tune into enough self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do musicians, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, that is what happens after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply is about the wish: there is an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to do, then, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you’re napping because your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that is frequently an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing comparable habits one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could simply nap on a couch in whatever light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” explains an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually take a nap in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – such as, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
