Hear enough performance experts, making it tempting to believe that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Elite athletes swear by it – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” says an expert circadian rhythm professor. “The first is known as recovery napping, which is what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, such as during on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to the wish: there is a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors outside your control – such as, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap because your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping ought not to be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you go to bed at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa found that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists propose adopting comparable habits one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically tell yourself to nod off. There must be some drive there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
