Listen to a few performance podcasters, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League soccer players are all at it – along with concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or employment that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three main reasons for napping for many people,” notes a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens following poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a chance to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap since your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that naps must not be long enough to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on what time you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the optimal amount for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research would say it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts suggest employing the same protocol you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for example, when aiming to grab 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
