Tune into a few performance podcasters, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Elite soccer players swear by it – along with professional piano players, fighters & media moguls. Yet, when you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes a leading circadian rhythm professor. “One is termed recovery napping, which is what happens following poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, such as during graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about desire: you have a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to consider, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Naps can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap since your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not where it needs to be. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on the time you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts had a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals doze off quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the ideal number of time, however, that can cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the worst thing you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Research would say it's more effective to have a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you nap for slightly longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals recommend employing similar routines one would use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your bed as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” explains an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on to begin with. I can usually snooze during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps many individuals is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently allow sleep to come.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
