Hear a few productivity podcasters, making it tempting to believe that napping is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – as do concert pianists, mixed martial artists and media moguls. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” says a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “One is termed recovery napping, which is what you do after experiencing poor sleep the night before. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, such as if you’re working overnight shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to the wish: you get a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap because your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on when you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists noted that crew members had improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a specialist. “You'll find much advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it's more effective to have an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect how you sleep that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose adopting the same protocol you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” notes a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a time when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for instance, if attempting to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
