Listen to a few performance experts, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a path towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Premier League footballers swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting sleep loss ahead, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply boils down to desire: you get an opportunity to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap since your night sleep is unstable or poor, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus should still be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on what time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists noted that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number of time, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies indicates it's more effective to have an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for a long period, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts suggest employing the same protocol you’d use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that one could simply nap on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bed as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to force,” says an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to lie down and basically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
