Listen to a few self-improvement experts, and it’s simple to convince yourself that a nap is a superpower: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – along with musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as compensatory napping, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting sleep loss coming up, for example if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to wanting: you have an opportunity to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you go to bed in the evening). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies suggests it is preferable to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists recommend using comparable habits you use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – such as, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
