Hear enough performance gurus, making it easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a path to improved recall, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you lack a room for napping or a career that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“There are three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is known as recovery napping, essentially what you do following insufficient sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit ahead, such as during overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to wanting: there is a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to do, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted due to causes you cannot change – such as, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “But if you take a nap as your sleep at night is unstable or broken, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on when you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, experts discovered that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it's more effective to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to command,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and practically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive there to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – for example, when aiming to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to use some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
