Listen to a few performance gurus, and it’s simple to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers swear by it – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for napping in the adult population,” explains a professor of circadian rhythm professor. “One is known as compensatory napping, essentially what happens when you’ve had a lack of sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, for instance when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about desire: you get a moment to doze during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or recovering from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping because your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that napping must not be too extended to interfere with your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on the time you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study on the subject, experts noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of advice around about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Research would say it's more effective to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a full cycle and should awaken feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose using the same protocol one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Sleep is quite challenging to force,” says a specialist. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to lie down and practically tell yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate a time when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to grab a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
