Hear a few productivity experts, and you'll be simple to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional athletes are all at it – along with musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. Yet, when you lack a special sleep space or a career that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” notes an expert sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, essentially what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for example when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply is about wanting: you have a chance to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap because your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on what time you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, experts found that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much advice around about the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research would say it is preferable to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose adopting similar routines one would use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that you should simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says a specialist. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive there to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to look for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
