Hear enough performance podcasters, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – as do musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “One is what we call compensatory napping, that is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply boils down to the wish: there is an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping since your night sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (based on when you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose using comparable habits one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and practically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive present to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to grab a quick nap on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
