Hear a few productivity experts, making it tempting to think that napping is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a route to a better memory, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes are all at it – along with musicians, fighters & high-profile executives. But if you lack a special sleep space or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, that is what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which basically boils down to the wish: there is a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your sleep at night feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This implies that naps shouldn’t be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists noted that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations about the ideal number of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed above all – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts recommend employing comparable habits you use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in the existing light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to look for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for example, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
