The Key to a Flawless Nap: Timing, Location and Duration?
Listen to plenty of productivity podcasters, and you'll be tempting to think that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. But if you lack a room for napping or a career that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” notes a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “One is termed make-up sleep, that is what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about desire: you get a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “But if you nap as your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a signal your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on what time you retire at night). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists found that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the optimal amount of time, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science indicates it is preferable to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you take it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. Some experts suggest using the same protocol you’d use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to squeeze in a quick nap on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will