The Secret for an Ideal Snooze: Timing, Location & Duration?
Tune into enough performance podcasters, making it simple to convince yourself that dozing is a superpower: more than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a path to improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps quicker running times. Professional soccer players swear by it – and so are concert pianists, fighters & high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a job that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Does there exist a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling better, not worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“Experts note three key drivers for daytime sleep among most adults,” says a professor of sleep science researcher. “One is known as compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit coming up, for instance when working graveyard shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially is about desire: you get a chance to doze in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest gets interrupted because of factors beyond your control – such as, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” says a sleep expert. “However, if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that’s often an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. Under those circumstances, naps can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods for temporary issues – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Ideal Nap Length
This implies that napping must not be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (based on when you sleep in the evening). How long is sensible? Advice differs. Among the most referenced research about napping, experts found that space travelers showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this included a six-minute nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations regarding the perfect length of time, however, that can make people feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action one can do while aiming to fall asleep is to stress over it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies indicates it’s better to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the professor. “45 minutes is sufficient to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for a long period, it can influence your sleep later that night.”
Establishing the Perfect Sleep Space
As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. Certain specialists suggest using the same protocol you use to encourage restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid post-nap grogginess and to preserve your bedroom as the space your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to will,” notes an expert. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to recline and practically tell yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination available to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often snooze in broad daylight and awaken on my own without a timer, though, what aids many individuals is to anticipate a time where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if attempting to fit in 40 winks while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong to use sleep aids. “When I’m working with footballers, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
