Tune into plenty of performance experts, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and possibly improved athletic performance. Professional soccer players do it regularly – as do concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. However, if you lack a special sleep space or employment that permits daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will get up feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three key drivers for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep science professor. “The first is known as compensatory napping, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as during graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about the wish: you get an opportunity to nap during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, then, is to think about your nap motivation. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap because your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps must not be too extended to affect your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on the time you sleep overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this counted an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the optimal amount of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Research would say it is preferable to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the professor. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you nap for a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to finish of a sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you’re sleeping for a long period, it can influence the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose employing comparable habits you’d use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your bedroom as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is something really tricky to will,” explains an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps many individuals is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong with bringing some accessories. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
