Tune into plenty of performance gurus, making it easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes are all at it – along with musicians, fighters & business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is known as make-up sleep, essentially the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to desire: you get a moment to doze during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap since your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on the time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, yet that often make people feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science indicates it's more effective to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose using similar routines you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to just doze in a chair in the existing light is available – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
