Tune into enough productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid following restless night, but a path towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League soccer players swear by it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” explains a professor of sleep science professor. “One is termed compensatory napping, which is what happens following insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about the wish: you get a chance to nap during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that naps ought not to be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (contingent on the time you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much guidance out there about the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed above all – and the worst thing one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies indicates it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Creating an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you’d use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to will,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive present to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – such as, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks during a commute or in a work pod – it's acceptable with bringing some accessories. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
