Tune into enough productivity gurus, making it easy to think that napping is a superpower: not just a quick fix following poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players are all at it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is preparatory napping, which involves anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically comes down to the wish: you have a chance to nap during the day, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to consider, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons outside your control – such as, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur after about 3pm (depending on the time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there about the perfect length of minutes, yet that often make people feel more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies indicates it’s better to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose employing similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should simply nap in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
