Hear a few performance gurus, and you'll be simple to think that dozing is a superpower: more than a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, essentially the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: there is an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes you cannot change – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you nap since your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep must not be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the perfect length of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research indicates it is preferable to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – whereas if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest using comparable habits you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could simply nap on the sofa in the existing light is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive present to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
