Listen to a few performance experts, making it simple to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers do it regularly – along with professional piano players, UFC champions & high-profile executives. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” explains an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically is about the wish: you have a moment to nap during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level required. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep must not be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on what time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers 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 a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “You'll find much advice around about the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research would say it's more effective to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose adopting comparable habits one would use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps most folks is to look for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to grab some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
