Tune into enough performance gurus, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions and business leaders. However, if you lack a room for napping or employment that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” says a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “One is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, such as if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to wanting: you have an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is to examine why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you nap because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This means that napping shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur after about 3pm (contingent on when you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing you can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies indicates it's more effective to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for a long period, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest employing the same protocol you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should merely snooze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” notes an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – such as, when aiming to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will