Listen to a few productivity experts, making it tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers are all at it – and so are professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, which is what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting sleep loss coming up, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to the wish: you get a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not at the level it should be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts found that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep quickly,” explains a specialist. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it may impact your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on in the first place. I can usually snooze in full light and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
