The Key for a Perfect Nap: Timing, Location & for How Long?
Listen to plenty of performance experts, making it simple to think that a nap is a superpower: more than a quick fix after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut towards a better memory, improved mood and maybe quicker running times. Elite soccer players do it regularly – as do professional piano players, fighters and media moguls. But if you don't have a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the effort? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you will arise feeling better, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for taking a nap for many people,” explains an expert circadian rhythm professor. “Firstly, there's termed recovery napping, essentially what you do following a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is prophylactic napping, when you are anticipating insufficient sleep ahead, such as when working overnight shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which simply boils down to wanting: you have an opportunity to sleep in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The primary task to undertake, then, is to think about your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – for instance, when you are a new parent, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” says a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you’re napping since your night sleep feels fragile or broken, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not at the level it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the issue, not the solution. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This means that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your nighttime sleep, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (based on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (technically, this counted an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend setting an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there concerning the ideal number for sleeping, but that tends to make people feel more stressed than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “The science indicates it's more effective to have a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you get up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. Though if you nap for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing the Right Sleep Space
As for specific techniques, advice differs. Some experts propose adopting the same protocol you use to encourage restful sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as possible. Some advise that one could just doze in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your bed as the place your brain links with nighttime rest. “Napping is something really tricky to command,” explains an expert. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – such as, when aiming to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “Coaching elite athletes, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
