The Secret to a Perfect Nap: Timing, Where and Duration?
Tune into a few performance podcasters, and you'll be tempting to think that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Elite footballers swear by it – as do musicians, fighters and high-profile executives. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages regular snoozing, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“Experts note three primary motivations for napping among most adults,” says an expert circadian rhythm professor. “The first is known as compensatory napping, which is what happens after experiencing poor sleep overnight. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit ahead, such as if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to wanting: there is a moment to nap during the day, and it's enjoyable to indulge.”
The primary task to consider, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted because of factors beyond your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you’re napping because your night sleep feels fragile or unreliable, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
Therefore that naps must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and preferably are not recommended after about 3pm (depending on what time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Guidelines are mixed. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, experts discovered that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – most people are asleep quickly,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of recommendations regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed than anything – and the worst thing you can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Studies indicates it’s better to have a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you get up – however, if you nap for a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep later that night.”
Finding the Perfect Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, advice differs. Certain specialists propose using similar routines you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a silent space, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” says a sleep coach. “Without the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to recline and essentially command yourself to fall asleep. You need some sleep pressure present to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often snooze in full light and naturally wake up without an alarm, however, what assists a lot of people is to anticipate a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and then simply ease into sleep.”
Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in 40 winks while traveling or in a work pod – it is perfectly fine to use sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they not rely on their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will
