Listen to a few productivity experts, and it’s easy to think that napping is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid after poor sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers do it regularly – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that allows frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Drive to Snooze
“There are three key drivers for napping for many people,” explains an expert sleep science researcher. “One is what we call make-up sleep, essentially what happens when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for example when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to the wish: there is an opportunity to sleep in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The primary task to do, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or poor, that is frequently a signal your need for sleep is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus must always be a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on what time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much advice around about the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can do while aiming to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “Research suggests it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals recommend adopting similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as is feasible. Some advise that you should simply nap on the sofa in whatever light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep in the first place. I can usually take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – such as, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – it's acceptable to use some accessories. “When I’m working with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
