Tune into a few performance experts, and you'll be easy to think that napping is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are musicians, fighters & business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that permits regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for napping for many people,” says an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is preparatory napping, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep ahead, such as during on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about wanting: you have a moment to nap in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping since your night sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on when you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the perfect length of time, however, that can make people feel more anxious than anything – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose adopting similar routines one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in the existing light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the place you associate with nighttime rest. “Sleep is quite challenging to command,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for instance, when aiming to grab 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
