Hear enough productivity podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Premier League athletes are all at it – along with musicians, fighters and business leaders. But if you don't have a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is known as make-up sleep, that is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, for example during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you get a chance to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to do, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping because your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep must not be too extended to affect your sleep at night, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (based on when you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals suggest employing comparable habits one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
