Tune into plenty of productivity gurus, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a route to a better memory, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” notes a leading sleep science professor. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss ahead, for instance when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically is about wanting: you have a moment to sleep during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that naps must not be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists found that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies indicates it’s better to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists recommend using the same protocol one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair with ambient lighting is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and basically tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for instance, when aiming to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing some accessories. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
