Listen to a few productivity gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Elite athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, mixed martial artists and media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep science researcher. “One is what we call compensatory napping, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. Another is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply comes down to the wish: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, for a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you nap as your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not at the level required. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there about the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do while aiming 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 induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “The science indicates it’s better to take a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – whereas if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Finding the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest employing comparable habits you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – such as, if attempting to grab 40 winks during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
