The Secret for a Flawless Nap: When, Where and Duration?
Listen to enough productivity experts, making it simple to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Premier League athletes are all at it – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for napping among most adults,” says a leading sleep science specialist. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping as your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not where required. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This means that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the ideal number of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. But if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing the same protocol you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch in the existing light is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the environment you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to force,” explains an expert. “Without any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. You need some sleep pressure present to start the process initially. I can usually nap in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids many individuals is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
