The Secret for an Ideal Snooze: When, Where & Duration?

Listen to a few productivity experts, and you'll be tempting to believe that napping is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Elite soccer players do it regularly – along with concert pianists, UFC champions & business leaders. But if you don't have a room for napping or a job that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Does there exist a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?

Understanding Your Nap Motivation

“There are three key drivers for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a leading circadian rhythm professor. “The first is termed make-up sleep, essentially what you do after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for instance if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to wanting: you get a chance to sleep in the daytime, and it feels nice to do it.”

The first thing to consider, therefore, is to examine why you want to nap. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes beyond your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “But if you nap because your night sleep is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the main goal must always be a robust and regular sleep at night.”

The Optimal Snooze Time

This means that naps must not be long enough to interfere with your sleep at night, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (contingent on when you go to bed overnight). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. In one of the most referenced research regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations about the perfect length for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do while aiming to get to sleep is to stress over it.”

If you’re going to take an extended nap, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep grogginess, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you get up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish a full cycle and should get up feeling more rejuvenated. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”

Finding an Ideal Nap Environment

As for precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts suggest employing comparable habits you’d use to promote quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Some advise that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the place your brain links with *real* sleep. “Napping is something really tricky to force,” notes a specialist. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and essentially command yourself to nod off. There must be some drive present to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to wait for an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”

It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – such as, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will