Tune into enough productivity gurus, and it’s tempting to believe that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a path to improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes do it regularly – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, that is the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for instance when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to desire: there is a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you nap since your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep must not be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on when you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science indicates it is preferable to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose adopting the same protocol one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on a couch in the existing light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” explains a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination available to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
