Listen to a few productivity experts, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League soccer players swear by it – and so are concert pianists, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to justify the hassle? Is there a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap for many people,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, that is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss ahead, such as if you’re working overnight shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to desire: there is a moment to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where it should be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (contingent on the time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, experts noted that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep quickly,” says a specialist. “You'll find much advice around regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts recommend adopting similar routines you’d use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. You need some drive present to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – for instance, when aiming to grab some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
