Listen to a few productivity gurus, and you'll be tempting to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following restless night, but a path to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players swear by it – as do concert pianists, mixed martial artists & business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “One is what we call make-up sleep, that is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you get a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – such as, for a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap because your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it should be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on what time you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, experts discovered that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there about the optimal amount of time, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies would say it’s better to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest using the same protocol one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – for example, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
