Hear a few self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be tempting to believe that dozing is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a path to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players swear by it – as do concert pianists, UFC champions and business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to justify the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you will arise feeling refreshed, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three key drivers for daytime sleep in the adult population,” says a leading sleep science researcher. “One is what we call recovery napping, essentially what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are anticipating a sleep deficit in the future, for example during on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically is about wanting: there is a moment to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to indulge.”
The primary task to consider, therefore, is to examine your nap motivation. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap because your sleep at night is unstable or broken, that’s often a signal your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In such situations, napping can become part of the issue, not the solution. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the priority should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Snooze Time
This means that naps ought not to be long enough to disrupt your overnight rest, and preferably should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you retire in the evening). How long is sensible? Recommendations vary. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in task performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the perfect length of time, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when attempting to nod off is worry about it.”
Should you decide to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies would say it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you wake up – however, if you extend it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end a full cycle and will probably awaken feeling more alert. However, if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment
As for specific techniques, recommendations vary. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space you associate with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and practically tell yourself to nod off. There’s got to be a natural inclination there to start the process initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, however, what assists most folks is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”
It’s worth experimenting, and when your choices are limited – for instance, if attempting to squeeze in some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will
