Hear plenty of performance gurus, making it tempting to believe that dozing is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” notes an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you have a chance to doze during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The initial step to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons beyond your control – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that napping must not be long enough to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on what time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations concerning the ideal number of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science would say it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – while if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest adopting comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could just doze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep initially. I can usually nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
