Listen to a few self-improvement podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid following restless night, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are musicians, UFC champions and media moguls. But if you lack a room for napping or a job that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the effort? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, that is the action you take following poor sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about the wish: there is an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on when you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study on the subject, experts discovered that space travelers experienced improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the perfect length of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science indicates it’s better to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose employing similar routines you’d use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that you should merely snooze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” explains an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
