Listen to plenty of productivity experts, and you'll be easy to think that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a path to a better memory, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting sleep loss coming up, such as when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to consider, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap since your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that napping shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off quickly,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “The science suggests it is preferable to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a full cycle and should get up feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
