The Secret for an Ideal Nap: When, Location and Duration?
Hear a few productivity gurus, making it easy to think that a nap is a secret weapon: rather than a band-aid following poor sleep, but a path towards a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional athletes do it regularly – and so are musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you don't have a room for napping or a job that permits frequent naps, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you truly ensure you will arise feeling improved, instead of groggy?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science professor. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, for example during overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to desire: you have a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This implies that daytime sleep must not be long enough to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you sleep overnight). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies about napping, experts noted that space travelers had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the perfect length of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the most counterproductive thing one can do while aiming to nod off is to be anxious.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science would say it’s better to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest using similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that one could simply nap on the sofa in the existing light is present – to prevent sleep inertia and to preserve your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” says an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process initially. I can usually take a nap during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and should your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to grab some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
