Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and it’s tempting to believe that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Premier League footballers swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, which is the action you take following a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, such as during graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to desire: you have a chance to sleep during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be really helpful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists found that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action you can do while aiming to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists suggest employing comparable habits one would use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a sleep coach. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure present to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to wait for an instance when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – such as, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
