Hear enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite footballers swear by it – along with musicians, fighters & media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or employment that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap among most adults,” says a leading sleep science professor. “Firstly, there's known as recovery napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Another is pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, for example when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about desire: you get an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The primary task to do, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often an indicator your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep must not be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, experts found that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Research indicates it is preferable to take an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish 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 a full cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend adopting the same protocol one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” explains a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and naturally wake up alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
