Hear enough performance experts, making it simple to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after poor sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite footballers do it regularly – as do musicians, UFC champions and high-profile executives. Yet, when you lack a special sleep space or employment that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, that is what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. The second is pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit ahead, for example during graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that naps must not be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists noted that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies would say it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. A few professionals suggest adopting comparable habits you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” explains an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive present to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to look for a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
