The Formula to an Ideal Nap: When, Location and for How Long?
Listen to enough performance gurus, and you'll be easy to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a shortcut towards improved recall, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, mixed martial artists & business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* worthwhile perks to a quick nap for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes a leading circadian rhythm specialist. “The first is known as make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, when you are anticipating sleep loss in the future, such as if you’re working overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to the wish: you get a moment to sleep during the day, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is disturbed due to causes outside your control – for example, for a new parent, or you’re recovering from illness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not where required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that napping shouldn’t be long enough to disrupt your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of guidance out there regarding the perfect length of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything – and the worst thing you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies indicates it’s better to have an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for a long period, it can influence how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
Regarding exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Some experts propose employing similar routines you’d use to promote a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to preserve your bed as the place your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” says a specialist. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to look for a moment where they feel naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
