Listen to plenty of productivity podcasters, making it easy to believe that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Professional footballers are all at it – as do concert pianists, fighters & business leaders. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a career that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” notes an expert sleep science professor. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what happens following poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating sleep loss in the future, for instance during on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to desire: there is a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping as your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that naps ought not to be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in vigilance plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of time, yet that often make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend employing comparable habits you’d use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that one could just doze on a couch in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bed as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” says an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some drive available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a time when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for instance, when aiming to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
