The Secret to a Perfect Nap: When, Location & for How Long?

Tune into a few performance podcasters, making it easy to believe that dozing is a secret weapon: rather than a sticking plaster following poor sleep, but a route to a better memory, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers swear by it – as do musicians, mixed martial artists and media moguls. Yet, when you lack a dedicated nap-room or a job that allows frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? And can you honestly promise you will get up feeling better, not worse?

Identifying Your Nap Motivation

“We can identify three main reasons for daytime sleep for many people,” explains a leading sleep science specialist. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, such as if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “pleasure-based sleep”, which simply is about the wish: you have an opportunity to nap in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to do it.”

The primary task to consider, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when overnight rest gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep specialist. “But if you’re napping as your nighttime sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the focus should still be a robust and regular overnight rest.”

The Optimal Nap Length

This implies that naps ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (depending on the time you sleep at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. Among the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members had improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people are asleep within 10 minutes,” says a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the optimal amount of time, yet that often cause people to feel more stressed than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”

If you plan to nap for a longer period, avoid the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces sleep inertia, that foggy state when you awaken. “Research would say it’s better to take an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” notes the professor. “45 minutes is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you take it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should awaken feeling more alert. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it may impact the quality of your sleep in the evening.”

Creating the Perfect Sleep Space

When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals suggest using similar routines one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a peaceful area, a supportive surface and minimal light as possible. Some advise that it's fine to just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid sleep inertia and to “protect” your bed as the environment your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to force,” explains a sleep coach. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure available to start the process initially. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and naturally wake up alarm-free, though, what aids a lot of people is to look for a moment when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly relax into it.”

Experimentation is key, and should you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to grab some shut-eye during a commute or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I advise that they not rely on napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will