Listen to plenty of performance gurus, making it tempting to believe that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players are all at it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to the wish: there is a chance to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping as your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur after about 3pm (depending on what time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you extend it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose using comparable habits you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that you should just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to force,” says an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process initially. I can usually snooze in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if attempting to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
