Listen to plenty of performance gurus, and you'll be simple to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: more than a quick fix following restless night, but a route to improved recall, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite soccer players swear by it – and so are concert pianists, fighters & high-profile executives. Yet, when you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do following poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example if you’re working overnight shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about wanting: you have a moment to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to consider, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes beyond your control – such as, when you are a new parent, or recovering after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that naps ought not to be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on when you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study on the subject, experts found that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research would say it’s better to have a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest using comparable habits you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that you should just doze on the sofa in the existing light is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” explains an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive available to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to anticipate a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab 40 winks on a train or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to use a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
