The Secret to an Ideal Kip: Timing, Where and for How Long?
Hear plenty of self-improvement gurus, and it’s easy to believe that a nap is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Elite footballers do it regularly – and so are musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or employment that permits frequent naps, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, not worse?
Identifying The Drive to Snooze
“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” notes a leading circadian rhythm professor. “The first is known as make-up sleep, essentially what happens after experiencing insufficient sleep overnight. The second is preparatory napping, which involves pre-empting a sleep deficit ahead, such as during on night shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to desire: you get an opportunity to doze in the afternoon, and it feels nice to do it.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is consider your reason for napping. “Daytime sleep can be genuinely useful when nighttime sleep gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – for instance, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, naps can become part of the issue, instead of the fix. Use napping as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the main goal should still be a strong and predictable sleep at night.”
The Perfect Nap Duration
This implies that daytime sleep shouldn’t be too extended to interfere with your nighttime sleep, 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. In one of the most-cited studies on the subject, experts discovered that crew members had up to a 54% increase in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved a six-minute falling asleep phase). “I recommend using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” notes a sleep coach. “There is plenty of guidance out there regarding the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can cause people to feel more worried above all – and the least helpful action you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
Should you decide to take an extended nap, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that induces that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you wake. “Research indicates it’s better to opt for a longer nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel disoriented upon awakening – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and will probably wake up feeling more alert. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, advice differs. A few professionals recommend using similar routines one would use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a silent space, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on the sofa in the existing light is present – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Falling asleep is quite challenging to will,” notes an expert. “If you don’t have any sleepiness, it is more challenging to lie down and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to initiate sleep to begin with. I can usually take a nap during the day and naturally wake up without a timer, though, what aids a lot of people is to anticipate a time when they are naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”
It’s worth experimenting, and should your choices are limited – for example, when aiming to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – there’s nothing wrong with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, because they’re going to have|they will
