The Formula for an Ideal Snooze: Timing, Location and Duration?
Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, making it easy to believe that napping is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a path towards improved recall, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap to justify the effort? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says a leading circadian rhythm professor. “One is what we call make-up sleep, which is what happens when you’ve had poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for example during overnight shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to the wish: there is an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted because of factors you cannot change – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap since your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on what time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study about napping, experts discovered that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off in under ten minutes,” explains a specialist. “There is plenty of advice around about the perfect length of time, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing you can do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science would say it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose adopting comparable habits you use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a supportive surface and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that one could just doze on a couch in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “Without any sleepiness, it becomes harder to lie down and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination available to bring the sleep on to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to look for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they not rely on napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
