Tune into enough performance experts, making it simple to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid after restless night, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional athletes are all at it – and so are concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science professor. “The first is known as make-up sleep, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to desire: there is a chance to nap during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, therefore, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for instance, for a new parent, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping because your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of a prominent study about napping, experts found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, however, that can make people feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science indicates it’s better to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you nap for slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend adopting the same protocol one would use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that you should merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive there to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to anticipate a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
