Tune into enough productivity experts, and it’s tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players do it regularly – along with concert pianists, fighters and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows regular snoozing, is it *truly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the hassle? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” notes a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Another is preparatory napping, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about the wish: you get an opportunity to doze during the day, and it feels nice to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be really helpful when overnight rest is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping as your night sleep seems unreliable or poor, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
This implies that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur after about 3pm (depending on what time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. In one of a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance plus a 34% rise in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, however, that can cause people to feel more worried above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when attempting to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists propose adopting similar routines you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to maintain your bed as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and basically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
