Hear plenty of productivity gurus, and it’s simple to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path to a better memory, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players do it regularly – and so are musicians, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” says a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is termed make-up sleep, that is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about the wish: you have a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to consider, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons beyond your control – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that naps must not be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and best should not occur after about 3pm (based on the time you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals suggest employing similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze on the sofa in the existing light is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive present to start the process initially. I can usually take a nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps most folks is to wait for a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for instance, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
