Listen to a few productivity gurus, making it tempting to believe that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional footballers are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, which is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a new parent, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap because your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you sleep at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, experts noted that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there about the ideal number of time, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it may impact your sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze in a chair in whatever light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
