The Key for an Ideal Nap: Timing, Location and Duration?
Listen to a few performance podcasters, and it’s easy to think that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional athletes swear by it – along with professional piano players, fighters and business leaders. But if you lack a special sleep space or employment that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a reliable way to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “One is known as recovery napping, essentially the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, for example during graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to the wish: there is a chance to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to do, then, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – for instance, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that can be an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the focus must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on when you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, experts found that crew members had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the optimal amount of time, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you extend it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose using similar routines you’d use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should merely snooze in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and essentially tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists many individuals is to look for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and just gently allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
