Listen to plenty of self-improvement experts, and it’s easy to believe that a nap is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you lack a special sleep space or a job that permits daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping in the adult population,” says an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is what you do after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, when you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically boils down to the wish: you get a chance to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to examine why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that crew members showed improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “You'll find much recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the worst thing you can do when attempting to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies suggests it's more effective to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals propose using similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” says an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. You need some sleep pressure available to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable to use sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
Eva de Vries is a passionate book lover and local writer from Eindhoven.
