Listen to a few productivity podcasters, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call recovery napping, essentially what happens following insufficient sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a chance to doze in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The primary task to consider, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the focus must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that napping ought not to be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies suggests it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts recommend employing the same protocol you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on the sofa in the existing light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure available to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – such as, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
