Hear plenty of performance gurus, and it’s tempting to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers do it regularly – and so are professional piano players, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. But if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” notes an expert sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, that is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, such as if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about desire: you have an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap since your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on what time you retire overnight). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study about napping, experts found that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around about the perfect length of time, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you take it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts recommend employing the same protocol you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light is present – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to command,” explains an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. You need some sleep pressure present to start the process initially. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
