Tune into enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Elite soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists and media moguls. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science professor. “The first is termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss in the future, such as during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to the wish: there is a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap since your night sleep feels fragile or poor, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not at the level required. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that naps ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science suggests it is preferable to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and should get up feeling more alert. But if you nap for a long period, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals recommend using comparable habits you use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
