Listen to a few self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: more than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite athletes are all at it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” says a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, which is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for instance when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply is about desire: you get an opportunity to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, for a new parent, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap because your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not where required. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that naps must not be long enough to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on the time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science would say it’s better to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – however, if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists propose adopting similar routines one would use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could just doze in a chair in the existing light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” notes a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically instruct yourself to nod off. You need a natural inclination available to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to wait for an instance when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for example, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
