Tune into plenty of performance experts, and you'll be tempting to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a quick fix following restless night, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions & media moguls. But if you lack a special sleep space or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” notes an expert sleep science researcher. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is preparatory napping, which involves anticipating sleep loss ahead, for example when working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a chance to nap during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – such as, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing after being ill or strenuous activity,” states a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping as your night sleep seems unreliable or broken, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not at the level required. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal must always be a strong and predictable overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep must not be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur in the late afternoon (based on when you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much recommendations about the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when attempting to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies would say it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – however, if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep later that night.”
Finding an Ideal Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in whatever light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to maintain your bedroom as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a specialist. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a time that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
