Tune into enough productivity podcasters, and it’s simple to believe that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional athletes are all at it – as do concert pianists, fighters & media moguls. However, if you lack a room for napping or employment that allows frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the effort? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a professor of sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to wanting: there is a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping as your sleep at night feels fragile or broken, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. In such situations, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and preferably should not occur after about 3pm (depending on the time you go to bed at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that space travelers showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research would say it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest employing similar routines you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Some advise that one could just doze on the sofa in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to lie down and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for example, when aiming to grab some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
