Listen to a few self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to think that a nap is a superpower: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a route to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League footballers swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters & high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“There are three main reasons for napping for many people,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “The first is known as make-up sleep, that is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply is about wanting: there is a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep physiologist. “However, if you nap since your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most referenced research on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research would say it is preferable to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination there to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
