The Secret to a Perfect Snooze: When, Location and Duration?
Listen to enough productivity experts, and it’s easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a quick fix after restless night, but a shortcut towards enhanced cognition, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – and so are musicians, UFC champions & high-profile executives. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep in the adult population,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science specialist. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, that is what you do when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, for instance when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: you get a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is to think about your reason for napping. “Naps can be really helpful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes beyond your control – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” explains a sleep expert. “However, if you nap since your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that can be a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
This means that naps must not be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you retire in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists noted that astronauts had up to a 54% increase in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the ideal number of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more anxious above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Studies suggests it's more effective to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you take it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for a long period, it may impact your sleep in the evening.”
Creating the Right Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on a couch with ambient lighting is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is tougher to recline and essentially command yourself to nod off. There must be a natural inclination there to start the process in the first place. I can usually snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to wait for a time where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and when you have few options – such as, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap while traveling or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
