Hear enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid following restless night, but a shortcut to a better memory, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping for many people,” says an expert circadian rhythm professor. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, such as during overnight shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about desire: there is a chance to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping as your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (based on what time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried above all – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science indicates it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you extend it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals recommend adopting the same protocol one would use to encourage restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze in a chair with ambient lighting is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” says an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There must be some drive present to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually snooze in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
