Listen to enough self-improvement experts, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional athletes do it regularly – along with professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says a leading sleep science specialist. “One is termed compensatory napping, essentially what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to desire: you have a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap since your night sleep feels fragile or poor, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where required. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This implies that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on when you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the ideal number of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose adopting the same protocol one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze in a chair in the existing light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” notes a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
