The Secret to a Flawless Nap: Timing, Where & for How Long?
Hear a few self-improvement experts, and it’s tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following restless night, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes are all at it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep science professor. “One is known as recovery napping, that is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply is about desire: there is a chance to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – such as, when you are a new parent, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap as your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you go to bed in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts found that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “The science suggests it is preferable to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose employing similar routines you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap in a chair in the existing light is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive present to start the process in the first place. I can usually snooze during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – such as, if attempting to grab a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
