Hear plenty of performance podcasters, making it tempting to think that napping is a superpower: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional athletes are all at it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions & high-profile executives. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three main reasons for napping among most adults,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what happens when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, for example during on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to the wish: you get an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your night sleep is unstable or broken, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not where required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (contingent on when you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that space travelers experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations about the optimal amount of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried above all – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to take an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts propose adopting similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in full light and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
