Listen to a few productivity gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players swear by it – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “One is what we call make-up sleep, that is what you do after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, such as if you’re working overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to wanting: there is a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to consider, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you retire overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists noted that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around about the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Research indicates it’s better to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing the same protocol you’d use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some drive available to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
