Hear plenty of performance gurus, making it easy to believe that a nap is a superpower: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap for many people,” notes an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as make-up sleep, that is what happens following a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to the wish: you have a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to do, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not where required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus must always be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping must not be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on when you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the ideal number of time, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to have an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you nap for a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend adopting similar routines one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive available to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate 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, when aiming to grab some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
