Tune into enough productivity podcasters, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix after restless night, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players are all at it – as do professional piano players, fighters & business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for napping for many people,” says a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “One is known as make-up sleep, that is what happens following poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, such as during on night shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to wanting: there is a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – for instance, for a new parent, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping as your sleep at night is unstable or broken, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “You'll find much recommendations about the optimal amount for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science indicates it is preferable to have a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while 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 wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest adopting the same protocol you’d use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Some advise that one could just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and practically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some drive present to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to nap during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
