Hear enough productivity gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a route to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League footballers swear by it – and so are musicians, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” says a leading sleep science researcher. “The first is known as compensatory napping, which is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for instance when working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about wanting: there is a chance to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap because your night sleep is unstable or broken, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This means that napping ought not to be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (based on the time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more stressed above all – and the worst thing you can do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science would say it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest using similar routines you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” says a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some drive there to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
