🔗 Share this article

Listen to plenty of productivity experts, and you'll be easy to think that a nap is a superpower: more than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a path to a better memory, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes do it regularly – as do musicians, mixed martial artists & media moguls. But if you don't have a special sleep space or a job that encourages regular snoozing, can there *honestly* sufficient advantages to a short sleep to merit the hassle? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?

Exploring Your Drive to Snooze

“Experts note three key drivers for napping for many people,” notes an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call recovery napping, that is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep overnight. Secondly, there's preparatory napping, where you are anticipating a sleep deficit in the future, for instance during overnight shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which basically is about wanting: you get a moment to sleep in the daytime, and it's pleasant to nap.”

The primary task to undertake, therefore, is consider why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night is unstable or poor, that’s often a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, not the solution. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the focus ought to remain a strong and predictable sleep at night.”

The Optimal Nap Duration

This means that daytime sleep must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (based on what time you go to bed in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From a prominent study on the subject, space agency scientists discovered that astronauts experienced a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included a six-minute long nodding-off period). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep expert. “You'll find much recommendations regarding the ideal number of minutes, but that tends to cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”

If you plan to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the 45-60 minute window that encourages sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you awaken. “Studies would say it is preferable to opt for a longer nap lasting 60-90 minutes than a medium-length one,” explains the sleep scientist. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into deep sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be completing a full cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. But if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep later that night.”

Creating the Perfect Nap Environment

When it comes to exact methodologies, advice differs. Certain specialists suggest employing similar routines one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could simply nap on a couch in whatever light is present – to avoid that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” notes an expert. “Without any drowsiness, it is more challenging to get comfortable and essentially instruct yourself to go to sleep. There must be some drive there to start the process to begin with. For me, it's possible to take a nap during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists most folks is to look for a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly relax into it.”

Trying different approaches is valuable, and when options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to fit in 40 winks on a train or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “Coaching professional sportspeople, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will