Hear enough productivity podcasters, and it’s simple to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a path to improved recall, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap among most adults,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's known as make-up sleep, essentially what happens following poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, such as during overnight shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to wanting: there is a chance to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping as your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (based on what time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies indicates it is preferable to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend using similar routines you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bedroom as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to start the process in the first place. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for example, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
