Hear enough performance podcasters, making it tempting to believe that a nap is a superpower: rather than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – as do concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping for many people,” explains an expert sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, when you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example during graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about desire: you get a moment to nap during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap as your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the focus must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep must not be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on the time you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
