Listen to plenty of performance podcasters, and you'll be easy to think that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a route to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps improved athletic performance. Professional athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three main reasons for napping among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is termed compensatory napping, which is the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for sleep loss coming up, for instance when working on night shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply boils down to wanting: there is a moment to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The first thing to consider, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping as your night sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a robust and regular night’s sleep.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
Therefore that daytime sleep must not be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on what time you go to bed in the evening). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, experts noted that space travelers had a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for half an hour or less – most people are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around regarding the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies suggests it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – whereas if you nap for a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing a natural sleep cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend adopting the same protocol one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination there to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids most folks is to look for an instance where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – such as, when aiming to grab a quick nap during a commute or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
