Hear a few performance gurus, and it’s easy to think that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following restless night, but a route to improved recall, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with musicians, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you lack a room for napping or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to justify the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling better, not worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, that is the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for example during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply is about desire: there is an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap as your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that can be a sign your sleep drive is not where it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, experts found that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around about the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies would say it's more effective to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest using the same protocol you use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” says an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive available to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to fit in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
