Listen to enough productivity experts, making it easy to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite athletes do it regularly – along with concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. But if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a leading circadian rhythm professor. “One is termed compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about desire: there is an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes you cannot change – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not where required. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose using comparable habits you use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that one could just doze on a couch in the existing light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to wait for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
