The Formula to a Flawless Kip: When, Where and for How Long?
Hear plenty of self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to think that dozing is a superpower: more than a quick fix after poor sleep, but a route towards a better memory, better spirits and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite athletes swear by it – along with musicians, fighters & media moguls. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a quick nap to justify the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will arise feeling improved, not worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for taking a nap for many people,” says an expert sleep science professor. “One is termed make-up sleep, which is the action you take after experiencing insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example during on night shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which essentially is about wanting: you get a chance to nap during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “But if you’re napping because your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your need for sleep is not where it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This means that daytime sleep shouldn’t be long enough to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on what time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this involved a six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the ideal number of minutes, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep inertia, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “Research would say it’s better to opt for an extended nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to send you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. Though if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Certain specialists propose employing comparable habits you’d use to promote restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bed as the space your brain links with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to recline and basically tell yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be some drive available to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists most folks is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and if you have few options – for example, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it is perfectly fine to employ some accessories. “In my work with elite athletes, I recommend that they not rely on their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will
