Hear plenty of productivity gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to a better memory, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – along with professional piano players, UFC champions and business leaders. However, if you lack a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” says a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to wanting: there is a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap since your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on what time you retire overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From a prominent study about napping, experts found that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the perfect length of minutes, however, that can make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research would say it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts suggest using the same protocol you use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. I can usually take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for example, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
