The Secret for an Ideal Nap: When, Where and Duration?
Tune into a few productivity podcasters, making it easy to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix following a bad night’s sleep, but a route to a better memory, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional athletes swear by it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and business leaders. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Nap Motivation
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” says a leading sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, essentially what you do following poor sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, such as if you’re working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping as your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally are not recommended after about 3pm (contingent on the time you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study on the subject, researchers at Nasa found that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off quickly,” says a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of time, but that tends to make people feel more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research would say it's more effective to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you extend it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose using the same protocol you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and essentially command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive there to bring the sleep on in the first place. Personally, I can often nap during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
