Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be tempting to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes swear by it – along with professional piano players, UFC champions and media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, which is the action you take following poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, such as when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to the wish: you have an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that naps shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts found that space travelers 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 long nodding-off period). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you’d use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze in a chair in the existing light is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some drive available to initiate sleep initially. I can usually nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for example, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
