Hear enough performance gurus, making it tempting to believe that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster after restless night, but a path to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Is there a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is termed make-up sleep, that is what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to wanting: there is a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on when you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the ideal number of minutes, however, that can make people feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to take an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend adopting similar routines you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest 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 maintain your bed as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
