Listen to plenty of performance experts, making it tempting to think that dozing is a superpower: rather than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players do it regularly – as do concert pianists, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for napping for many people,” says a leading sleep science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, essentially what you do following insufficient sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about desire: you have an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The primary task to consider, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that naps ought not to be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on when you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists found that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around about the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science suggests it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. But if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend employing the same protocol you use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
