Listen to plenty of performance experts, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players swear by it – along with musicians, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying The Reasons for Napping
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” explains an expert sleep science specialist. “The first is termed recovery napping, that is the action you take after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to do, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that naps must not be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members had improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more stressed above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science suggests it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you extend it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you’d use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that one could merely snooze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for example, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
