The Key to an Ideal Snooze: Timing, Where & Duration?
Tune into plenty of self-improvement podcasters, making it tempting to believe that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, better spirits and maybe quicker running times. Elite footballers swear by it – as do musicians, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you don't have a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a short sleep for it to be worth the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you really guarantee you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring Your Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three main reasons for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “One is termed compensatory napping, essentially what happens when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting sleep loss coming up, for instance when working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to wanting: you have a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to do it.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or poor, that can be a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In such situations, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Snooze Time
Therefore that napping shouldn’t be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (contingent on the time you retire at night). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, experts noted that crew members experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep quickly,” notes a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for a longer nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – while if you take it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to be completing a full cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
As for specific techniques, recommendations vary. Some experts suggest employing comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to merely snooze in a chair in the existing light is present – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and basically tell yourself to nod off. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process initially. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally without a timer, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for a time that they’re naturally slightly tired and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for example, when aiming to grab a quick nap while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable to employ sleep aids. “Coaching elite athletes, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will
