Tune into enough productivity gurus, and you'll be simple to believe that dozing is a superpower: rather than a quick fix following poor sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, improved mood and possibly quicker running times. Elite athletes swear by it – along with professional piano players, UFC champions & business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” says an expert sleep science specialist. “The first is known as compensatory napping, that is what happens following a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting sleep loss in the future, such as when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically comes down to the wish: you have an opportunity to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping ought not to be too extended to affect your overnight rest, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on when you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies about napping, space agency scientists found that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the perfect length of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “The science suggests it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the professor. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose employing comparable habits one would use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should merely snooze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the place you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a specialist. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some drive present to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
