Listen to a few self-improvement experts, and it’s tempting to think that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a path towards a better memory, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers do it regularly – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and media moguls. But if you lack a room for napping or a career that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for napping for many people,” explains an expert sleep science specialist. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is what happens after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Another is pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to the wish: there is an opportunity to doze during the day, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “But if you nap because your sleep at night is unstable or broken, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on the time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, experts found that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research would say it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – whereas if you extend it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, recommendations vary. Some experts propose using comparable habits you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap on a couch in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” notes an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially tell yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to look for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
