Listen to enough performance podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that a nap is a superpower: rather than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, better spirits and perhaps improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes swear by it – as do professional piano players, fighters & business leaders. But if you lack a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows regular snoozing, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying Your Nap Motivation
“There are three main reasons for napping in the adult population,” explains a professor of sleep science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, which is the action you take when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about wanting: there is a moment to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when night sleeping gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, when you are a parent of a newborn, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “But if you take a nap since your sleep at night is unstable or unreliable, that is frequently a signal your body's sleep pressure is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (depending on what time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. From the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, space agency scientists found that crew members showed up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this involved an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number of time, yet that often cause people to feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research indicates it is preferable to have an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you nap for a bit longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Right Nap Environment
When it comes to precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts recommend employing similar routines you’d use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that one could simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting is present – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the place you associate with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to will,” notes a sleep coach. “Without any drowsiness, it is tougher to recline and practically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There must be some drive there to start the process initially. I can usually take a nap in full light and wake up naturally without an alarm, but what helps most folks is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and should you have few options – for example, when aiming to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I recommend that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
