Tune into plenty of productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid after poor sleep, but a route towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the kerfuffle? Can you find a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping among most adults,” explains a professor of sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is known as compensatory napping, that is the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: you get a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to examine your nap motivation. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – such as, for a new parent, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be an indicator your sleep drive is not as strong as required. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority should still be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on when you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the ideal number of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action you can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you’re sleeping for a long period, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals suggest employing the same protocol one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the environment you associate with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a specialist. “Without any sleepiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to initiate sleep initially. I can usually snooze in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists many individuals is to wait for a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for instance, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
