Listen to plenty of productivity podcasters, making it simple to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to a better memory, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite footballers are all at it – as do professional piano players, fighters and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” says a professor of sleep science researcher. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, such as when working overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about desire: you get a moment to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you nap as your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on the time you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa found that astronauts showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Finding an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend using comparable habits you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Others suggest that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” notes a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on initially. Personally, I can often nap during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for instance, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
