Hear enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to believe that dozing is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster following restless night, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes swear by it – along with musicians, fighters and business leaders. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is what we call recovery napping, essentially what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you have a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning 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 attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to have an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts propose employing comparable habits you use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could just doze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” explains an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and awaken on my own alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to fit in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
