Hear a few productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid following restless night, but a route to improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers are all at it – and so are concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. But if you lack a special sleep space or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” explains an expert sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what you do following a lack of sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting insufficient sleep in the future, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to desire: there is a moment to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to do, therefore, is to examine why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you take a nap as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or poor, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not where it should be. In such situations, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
Therefore that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and preferably are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on when you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most referenced research on the subject, experts discovered that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I’d suggest setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals doze off quickly,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around about the optimal amount of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Studies indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you’re sleeping for a long period, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest adopting similar routines you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting is available – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bedroom as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure there to start the process initially. Personally, I can often take a nap in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will
