Tune into enough self-improvement gurus, and it’s simple to think that napping is a powerful tool: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards enhanced cognition, better spirits and possibly quicker running times. Elite soccer players swear by it – along with musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. However, if you haven’t got a room for napping or a job that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the hassle? Can you find a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three main reasons for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep science researcher. “One is known as compensatory napping, essentially the action you take after experiencing poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, for example during overnight shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially is about the wish: you have a chance to nap in the daytime, and it's pleasant to do it.”
The primary task to consider, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed due to causes you cannot change – for example, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing after being ill or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap since your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it should be. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, rather than the answer. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a robust and regular sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and ideally should not occur after about 3pm (based on when you go to bed overnight). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies about napping, experts found that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more anxious than anything – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “The science indicates it’s better to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. Though if you nap for a long period, it may impact your sleep later that night.”
Creating an Ideal Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose adopting similar routines you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – both to discourage sleep inertia and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps many individuals is to wait for an instance where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when your choices are limited – such as, when aiming to fit in a quick nap on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
