Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster after restless night, but a route to improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Elite athletes are all at it – and so are professional piano players, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap for many people,” says a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where required. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts found that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals propose employing similar routines one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch in whatever light is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
