Hear plenty of performance experts, making it tempting to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a path towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe quicker running times. Elite footballers do it regularly – along with professional piano players, fighters and media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a job that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to justify the hassle? Can you find a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call recovery napping, which is what you do following a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to desire: you have a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The initial step to do, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted due to causes you cannot change – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably are not recommended post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you retire in the evening). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose using the same protocol you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that one could simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep to begin with. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
