Hear enough performance experts, and it’s easy to think that dozing is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid after restless night, but a route to a better memory, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers are all at it – along with musicians, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what happens after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, for instance during on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about desire: you have a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, then, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not where required. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that naps ought not to be too extended to affect your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on when you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of the most referenced research about napping, experts discovered that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much advice around about the ideal number of time, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing the same protocol you use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – for example, if attempting to fit in a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
