Tune into a few self-improvement experts, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster after restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes do it regularly – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep science professor. “One is termed recovery napping, that is the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance during graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to wanting: there is an opportunity to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for example, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” states a sleep physiologist. “However, if you nap because your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In those cases, naps can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (depending on what time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – while if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals recommend employing similar routines you’d use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that one could just doze on a couch in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says a specialist. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination available to start the process initially. Personally, I can often nap in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
