Listen to plenty of performance experts, and you'll be tempting to think that napping is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers swear by it – and so are concert pianists, mixed martial artists and business leaders. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, that is the action you take following poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep ahead, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on the time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists noted that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the perfect length of time, yet that often make people feel more anxious above all – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies would say it is preferable to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose adopting comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze on a couch in the existing light is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and essentially tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
