Hear a few performance podcasters, making it tempting to convince yourself that a nap is a superpower: rather than a band-aid following restless night, but a route to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes swear by it – along with concert pianists, fighters & business leaders. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “The first is known as compensatory napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is preparatory napping, when you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example during on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about desire: you have an opportunity to doze during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping because your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that daytime sleep must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on what time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state upon waking. “Research indicates it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts propose using similar routines one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest that you should simply nap in a chair in the existing light is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your brain links with nighttime rest. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically tell yourself to nod off. You need a natural inclination there to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally slightly tired and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – such as, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
