The Formula to a Flawless Snooze: When, Where and for How Long?

Tune into enough self-improvement podcasters, and you'll be tempting to think that napping is a superpower: more than a band-aid after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, improved mood and perhaps quicker running times. Professional athletes do it regularly – along with concert pianists, mixed martial artists & business leaders. However, if you don't have a special sleep space or a job that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the hassle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you will arise feeling better, not worse?

Identifying Your Drive to Snooze

“We can identify three primary motivations for napping among most adults,” notes an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is what we call make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had poor sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, when you are preparing for insufficient sleep coming up, for instance during on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to desire: you get a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's enjoyable to nap.”

The initial step to consider, then, is to examine your reason for napping. “Naps can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for example, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you nap since your night sleep is unstable or poor, that’s often an indicator your sleep drive is not where required. In such situations, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”

The Ideal Nap Length

This implies that napping must not be sufficiently lengthy to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on what time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists found that crew members experienced up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% boost in performance after a 26-minute nap (to be precise, this included a six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – the majority fall asleep within 10 minutes,” notes a specialist. “You'll find much guidance out there regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious above all – and the worst thing one can do while aiming to nod off is worry about it.”

If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages that sluggish feeling, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Research indicates it is preferable to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to put you into a deep sleep stage and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you extend it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it may impact the quality of your sleep that night.”

Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space

Regarding precise methods, recommendations vary. Some experts propose using comparable habits one would use to promote restful sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap in a chair with ambient lighting happens to be around – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with *real* sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids most folks is to look for a time when they are naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”

Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – such as, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to use some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I advise that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will