Tune into plenty of productivity experts, and it’s tempting to think that dozing is a superpower: not just a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers do it regularly – along with professional piano players, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you will arise feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” notes a professor of sleep and circadian science professor. “Firstly, there's known as compensatory napping, that is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Another is preparatory napping, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which basically is about desire: you get a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to do, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you take a nap since your sleep at night feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as required. In those cases, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods for temporary issues – the main goal ought to remain a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on when you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most referenced research on the subject, experts noted that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies indicates it is preferable to have a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts propose adopting comparable habits one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that you should merely snooze in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some drive available to start the process initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when options are scarce – for example, if attempting to fit in 40 winks during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
