Tune into plenty of performance gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League soccer players do it regularly – as do concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. But if you don't have a special sleep space or a job that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” explains an expert sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, which is what happens following a lack of sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, such as if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about the wish: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that’s often an indicator your need for sleep is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts propose adopting the same protocol one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch in whatever light is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the environment your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to look for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
