The Formula to an Ideal Nap: When, Where & Duration?
Listen to plenty of productivity gurus, making it simple to believe that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, better spirits and perhaps quicker running times. Professional athletes do it regularly – along with professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to the wish: there is a chance to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, for caring for an infant, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not at the level required. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (based on what time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around about the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research suggests it’s better to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. A few professionals recommend using similar routines one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that one could just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and naturally wake up without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if options are scarce – for example, when aiming to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
