Tune into a few productivity podcasters, making it tempting to believe that napping is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a route to a better memory, better spirits and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists and business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for napping for many people,” says a professor of sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following insufficient sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply is about desire: you get a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (based on the time you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around about the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you awaken. “Studies suggests it is preferable to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that you should just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination there to start the process initially. Personally, I can often nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – for example, if attempting to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
