The Key to a Perfect Kip: Timing, Where and for How Long?
Tune into a few self-improvement gurus, making it simple to believe that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a sticking plaster following restless night, but a shortcut to improved recall, better spirits and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite footballers do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that permits frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the effort? Can you find a reliable way to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will get up feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring The Nap Motivation
“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a leading sleep science researcher. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, essentially what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, such as during overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply comes down to the wish: you have a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to do, so, is to examine why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted for reasons you cannot change – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or unreliable, that can be a signal your sleep drive is not as strong as required. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Employ naps as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Duration
Therefore that daytime sleep ought not to be long enough to affect your overnight rest, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on when you sleep at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, experts noted that crew members had a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep quickly,” notes a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of advice around concerning the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to take an extended nap, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “The science suggests it is preferable to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” says the professor. “45 minutes is long enough to plunge you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more refreshed. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence how you sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Nap Environment
As for exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts propose using similar routines you’d use to foster restful sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Some advise that one could just doze on the sofa in whatever light happens to be around – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your bedroom as the space you associate with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There must be some drive available to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if attempting to grab 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
