Hear a few performance gurus, and it’s tempting to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster following restless night, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes are all at it – along with musicians, mixed martial artists & business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss in the future, for instance during on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you get an opportunity to doze during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus should still be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that daytime sleep ought not to be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on what time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts found that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a full cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. But if you nap for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose adopting the same protocol one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that you should merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the place you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and basically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if your choices are limited – such as, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
