Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, making it easy to believe that napping is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes swear by it – along with musicians, fighters & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” notes an expert sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take following a lack of sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, for example during overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to consider, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, when you are a new parent, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your need for sleep is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on what time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. In one of the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations about the ideal number of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science suggests it's more effective to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend adopting the same protocol one would use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that it's fine to just doze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” notes an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
