Tune into enough performance gurus, making it simple to believe that dozing is a superpower: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional athletes swear by it – and so are musicians, fighters and media moguls. But if you lack a special sleep space or employment that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping for many people,” says a leading sleep science specialist. “Firstly, there's known as recovery napping, that is the action you take following a lack of sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which essentially boils down to the wish: there is a chance to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to consider, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap since your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and best should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on the time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that astronauts experienced up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations about the perfect length for sleeping, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research indicates 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 professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
Regarding specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking any sleepiness, it becomes harder to recline and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
