Hear a few self-improvement gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – as do concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that allows regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is termed make-up sleep, which is what you do following insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting sleep loss ahead, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to desire: you have a chance to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on when you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations about the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research would say it’s better to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy upon awakening – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend using similar routines you’d use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that you should merely snooze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. You need some drive present to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
