Hear enough productivity gurus, and it’s simple to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a route to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Elite athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, fighters & business leaders. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that permits regular snoozing, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” says a professor of sleep science specialist. “One is termed recovery napping, which is the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting sleep loss ahead, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to wanting: you get a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not where it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on the time you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. Though if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts recommend using comparable habits one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze on the sofa in whatever light is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bed as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for example, if attempting to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
