Listen to a few productivity podcasters, and you'll be simple to think that dozing is a superpower: more than a band-aid after poor sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League athletes swear by it – and so are professional piano players, mixed martial artists and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a special sleep space or a job that allows frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science professor. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating sleep loss coming up, for example when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically is about the wish: you have a moment to nap during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to do, then, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons outside your control – for instance, if you’re a new parent, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best should not occur after about 3pm (contingent on when you retire overnight). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. From the most-cited studies on the subject, space agency scientists found that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much advice around about the perfect length of minutes, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do while aiming to nod off is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Studies would say it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” notes a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. You need a natural inclination present to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for example, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
