Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be easy to believe that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, essentially what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, such as if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically is about desire: you get a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to consider, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes outside your control – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap because your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on what time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts experienced up to a 54% increase in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “The science suggests it is preferable to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose employing the same protocol one would use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” explains a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for instance, when aiming to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
