Tune into a few performance podcasters, and it’s easy to think that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Professional soccer players swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and media moguls. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to wanting: you have a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be really helpful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on when you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies indicates it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you nap for a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest employing the same protocol you use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that you should simply nap on a couch in whatever light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on in the first place. I can usually nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – such as, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
