Hear plenty of self-improvement experts, and it’s simple to believe that dozing is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster after restless night, but a shortcut towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes an expert circadian rhythm professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting sleep loss in the future, for instance during on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about the wish: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, when you are a new parent, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur after about 3pm (based on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists noted that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “The science suggests it’s better to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend using similar routines one would use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Some advise that you should just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive available to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often nap in full light and awaken on my own alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
