Hear plenty of self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a route to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps improved athletic performance. Premier League soccer players are all at it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that permits frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” notes a leading sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as recovery napping, which is what happens following insufficient sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting sleep loss in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply is about desire: you have a moment to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – such as, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap since your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around about the optimal amount of minutes, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could just doze on the sofa in the existing light is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” explains an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive present to bring the sleep on in the first place. I can usually take a nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if your choices are limited – such as, if you’re trying to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
