Hear enough performance experts, making it simple to believe that napping is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Professional athletes do it regularly – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists & media moguls. However, if you lack a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” explains a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for instance during on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to the wish: you have an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not where it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This implies that daytime sleep must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, experts discovered that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it’s better to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you nap for a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for a long period, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. Certain specialists recommend employing the same protocol you use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bedroom as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
