Listen to enough performance experts, and it’s simple to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid after restless night, but a route to improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Elite footballers do it regularly – as do professional piano players, UFC champions & business leaders. Yet, when you lack a room for napping or employment that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the effort? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “One is known as make-up sleep, which is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for instance during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: there is an opportunity to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for example, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on the time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies about napping, experts found that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science would say it’s better to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose employing the same protocol one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to command,” explains a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to grab a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
