Hear plenty of productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers swear by it – and so are musicians, mixed martial artists and high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the effort? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will arise feeling better, not worse?
Identifying Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap in the adult population,” notes an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is known as recovery napping, essentially the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Another is prophylactic napping, where you are preparing for insufficient sleep ahead, for example when working on night shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply is about wanting: you have an opportunity to nap during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about your nap motivation. “Naps can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors you cannot change – for instance, for a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping because your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that is frequently a sign your sleep drive is not at the level required. In such situations, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Use napping as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and best are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on the time you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Recommendations vary. Among a prominent study about napping, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people doze off in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research would say it’s better to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to send you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – whereas if you nap for a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Nap Environment
Regarding precise methods, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it becomes harder to recline and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure available to initiate sleep initially. For me, it's possible to take a nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when options are scarce – for example, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will
