Hear a few performance experts, and it’s tempting to believe that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a path to a better memory, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers swear by it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is known as make-up sleep, which is what you do following poor sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which simply comes down to the wish: you get a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to consider, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors outside your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” says a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the priority should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps must not be too extended to affect your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies on the subject, experts found that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the perfect length of minutes, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “The science would say it's more effective to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and are likely to get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
Regarding specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should just doze in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to force,” says an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for example, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
