Listen to enough productivity experts, and you'll be tempting to think that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that permits frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “The first is termed recovery napping, essentially what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting sleep loss in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about the wish: you get a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not where required. In those cases, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that naps ought not to be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on the time you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research about napping, experts discovered that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research indicates it’s better to take a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend adopting comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on the sofa in the existing light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to look for a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
