Tune into enough productivity experts, and you'll be easy to think that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid after restless night, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite athletes are all at it – along with musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” notes a professor of sleep science researcher. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for example during overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to the wish: you get a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The primary task to consider, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not where it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping must not be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and best should not occur after about 3pm (depending on when you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study about napping, experts found that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there about the perfect length of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do while aiming to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, recommendations vary. Some experts propose employing comparable habits you use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and basically command yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination present to start the process initially. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
