Hear enough self-improvement podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players are all at it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is known as make-up sleep, that is the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to the wish: there is a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep expert. “But if you nap because your night sleep feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where required. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around about the optimal amount of time, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research indicates it's more effective to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – whereas if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to force,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and practically instruct yourself to nod off. You need some drive there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
