Tune into a few self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to think that napping is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players are all at it – as do professional piano players, fighters & business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three main reasons for napping for many people,” notes a leading circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is termed recovery napping, essentially the action you take after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap because your night sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on the time you sleep at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “The science indicates it’s better to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest employing the same protocol you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that it's fine to just doze in a chair in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive present to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to look for a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
