The Secret to a Perfect Nap: Timing, Location and Duration?
Listen to a few productivity podcasters, making it easy to convince yourself that a nap is a secret weapon: more than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers do it regularly – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that permits daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding The Nap Motivation
“Experts note three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” notes a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call recovery napping, that is what you do following a lack of sleep the night before. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for instance when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply boils down to wanting: you have an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The initial step to undertake, therefore, is to examine why you want to nap. “Naps can be really helpful when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons beyond your control – for example, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or heavy physical exertion,” says a sleep expert. “But if you nap as your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the main goal ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that naps shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur after about 3pm (depending on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most referenced research on the subject, space agency scientists noted that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” says a sleep expert. “You'll find much advice around concerning the perfect length of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing one can do when attempting to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Studies would say it is preferable to take a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you nap for slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a full cycle and will probably get up feeling more refreshed. Though if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Creating the Right Nap Environment
As for precise methods, recommendations vary. A few professionals recommend using comparable habits one would use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to merely snooze on a couch in whatever light is present – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and practically command yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure there to start the process in the first place. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists most folks is to wait for a time when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should you have few options – such as, when aiming to grab a quick nap on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will