Hear plenty of performance experts, and it’s easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards a better memory, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional soccer players are all at it – as do professional piano players, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you lack a room for napping or a job that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling better, not worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following poor sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to desire: there is an opportunity to doze in the daytime, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap because your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you retire overnight). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research would say it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” notes a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
