Listen to enough performance podcasters, making it easy to believe that napping is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Elite athletes swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, that is what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about the wish: you get a chance to doze in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping must not be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on what time you retire at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists noted that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much advice around concerning the optimal amount of time, yet that often make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies suggests it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose adopting similar routines one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and practically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to start the process in the first place. I can usually take a nap during the day and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
