Hear enough performance gurus, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes are all at it – as do musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that allows frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for napping among most adults,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, that is what you do following a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for instance when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a moment to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The primary task to consider, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on what time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “You'll find much advice around regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it is preferable to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
Regarding specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists propose adopting the same protocol you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze on a couch in whatever light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” explains an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to start the process in the first place. I can usually take a nap in full light and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, if attempting to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
