The Formula for a Flawless Nap: When, Location & Duration?
Hear a few productivity experts, and it’s simple to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers are all at it – as do concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” says an expert circadian rhythm professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially what you do following poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for instance when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to desire: there is an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is to think about your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap since your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and preferably shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists noted that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much recommendations concerning the ideal number of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research would say it is preferable to take a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. However, if you nap for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to command,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – such as, when aiming to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
