Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be easy to think that dozing is a superpower: more than a quick fix following restless night, but a route towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional athletes do it regularly – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is known as recovery napping, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for example when working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about the wish: you get a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, for a new parent, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that naps must not be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies indicates it’s better to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – while if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits you use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as possible. Others suggest that one could merely snooze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” says a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep in the first place. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to look for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and just gently relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – such as, when aiming to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
