Listen to a few productivity experts, and you'll be tempting to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to a better memory, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Premier League footballers are all at it – and so are professional piano players, fighters and media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that permits regular snoozing, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three main reasons for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a professor of circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves preparing for sleep loss ahead, such as during graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which essentially boils down to desire: you get an opportunity to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “But if you’re napping since your night sleep is unstable 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 a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Use napping for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This implies that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur after about 3pm (depending on when you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study about napping, experts noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this counted a six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “You'll find much guidance out there concerning the perfect length of time, however, that can cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “The science suggests it’s better to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest using comparable habits one would use to foster restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and practically tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep to begin with. Personally, I can often nap during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when options are scarce – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
