The Formula to a Flawless Nap: Timing, Location and for How Long?
Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, making it simple to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid after poor sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are concert pianists, fighters & media moguls. However, if you lack a special sleep space or a career that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for taking a nap among most adults,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call recovery napping, that is what you do following poor sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit in the future, such as when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially boils down to wanting: you get a chance to doze in the daytime, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you nap as your night sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a sign your sleep drive is not where it should be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that napping must not be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on the time you sleep overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From the most referenced research about napping, experts found that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed above all – and the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science indicates it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you extend it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Nap Environment
Regarding specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists propose using the same protocol one would use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in the existing light is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to force,” explains a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure available to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to look for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
