Tune into plenty of performance gurus, making it easy to think that napping is a superpower: more than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers do it regularly – along with musicians, fighters & business leaders. But if you lack a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially what you do after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to the wish: you get a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping because your night sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and best should not occur after about 3pm (based on when you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to have an extended nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – whereas if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and should get up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend using the same protocol you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that one could simply nap on the sofa in whatever light is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” says a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and practically command yourself to nod off. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – such as, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
