Hear plenty of performance podcasters, and it’s easy to believe that dozing is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions and high-profile executives. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is termed compensatory napping, that is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to the wish: there is a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on when you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it is preferable to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals suggest using the same protocol you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” explains a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination present to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
