Listen to enough self-improvement podcasters, and it’s tempting to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes do it regularly – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists & business leaders. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to desire: you get an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The initial step to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you nap since your night sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (contingent on what time you retire at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much recommendations about the ideal number of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies suggests it’s better to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Sleep Space
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest adopting comparable habits you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to look for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should options are scarce – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
