The Secret to a Perfect Kip: Timing, Where and Duration?
Listen to plenty of self-improvement gurus, making it simple to convince yourself that dozing is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a route to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and maybe quicker running times. Elite footballers do it regularly – as do musicians, fighters & business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that encourages daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Does there exist a reliable way to nod off promptly? Furthermore, can you honestly promise you will get up feeling refreshed, rather than worse?
Understanding Your Nap Motivation
“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep among most adults,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “The first is known as recovery napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, when you are pre-empting a sleep deficit coming up, such as when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “appetitive drive”, which essentially comes down to wanting: there is a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be really helpful when nighttime sleep is disturbed because of factors beyond your control – for instance, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or you’re recovering after being ill or strenuous activity,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or broken, that is frequently a signal your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, napping can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a short-term solution for temporary issues – the focus should still be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Length
This implies that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your overnight rest, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (depending on when you sleep at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, experts discovered that space travelers experienced a boost of up to 54% in alertness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (technically, this counted a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a specialist. “There’s a lot of advice around about the perfect length of minutes, yet that often make people feel more stressed than anything – and the worst thing you can do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45-60 minute window that induces sleep inertia, that foggy state upon waking. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a lengthier snooze lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to put you into slow-wave sleep and it is more probable to feel groggy when you get up – however, if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for an hour and a half, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”
Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space
When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. A few professionals suggest adopting similar routines one would use to promote a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to merely snooze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to “protect” your bed as the environment you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is notoriously difficult to force,” explains an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to get comfortable and basically command yourself to go to sleep. There must be some drive available to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and wake up naturally without a timer, but what helps most folks is to look for a time where they feel naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly ease into sleep.”
Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – such as, when aiming to fit in some shut-eye on a train or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will