Hear a few performance gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers do it regularly – and so are musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is termed make-up sleep, that is what happens following a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply is about wanting: you get an opportunity to nap during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your need for sleep is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This implies that naps shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in alertness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this counted a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend using similar routines one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to lie down and basically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
