Hear enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: more than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Premier League footballers are all at it – and so are concert pianists, fighters & high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, that is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Another is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting sleep loss in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about the wish: you get a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap because your night sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This implies that napping must not be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on the time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists found that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the ideal number of minutes, yet that often make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science suggests it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest employing comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that you should just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to start the process to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for example, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
