The Key to an Ideal Kip: Timing, Location & for How Long?
Hear plenty of self-improvement podcasters, and it’s easy to think that a nap is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix following restless night, but a shortcut to enhanced cognition, better spirits and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers are all at it – along with professional piano players, mixed martial artists and business leaders. However, if you lack a special sleep space or a job that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a quick nap to merit the effort? Is there a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to really guarantee you will get up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Understanding The Drive to Snooze
“There are three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a leading sleep science professor. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially the action you take following insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are pre-empting a sleep deficit in the future, for example if you’re working graveyard shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically boils down to desire: there is a chance to doze during the day, and it's enjoyable to nap.”
The initial step to consider, so, is to examine your reason for napping. “Napping can be genuinely useful when overnight rest is being disrupted for reasons outside your control – such as, if you’re caring for an infant, or if you are healing after being ill or intense exercise,” explains a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap as your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that can be a signal your need for sleep is not at the level it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, not the solution. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a robust and regular overnight rest.”
The Perfect Nap Length
This means that napping shouldn’t be sufficiently lengthy to affect your sleep at night, and ideally are not recommended in the late afternoon (based on the time you go to bed overnight). How long is sensible? Advice differs. From a prominent study regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa noted that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this counted a six-minute long sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for half an hour or less – most people doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a specialist. “You'll find much advice around concerning the ideal number for sleeping, yet that often lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to fall asleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to sleep for longer, avoid the 45-60 minute window that encourages that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you awaken. “Studies suggests it’s better to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is enough time to send you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish when you get up – while if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more alert. But if you're dozing for a long period, it can influence your sleep that night.”
Creating the Perfect Snooze Setting
Regarding exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Certain specialists recommend employing similar routines you use to foster a good night’s sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and as much darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to simply nap in a chair in the existing light happens to be around – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the environment your mind associates with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” explains an expert. “Lacking the urge to sleep, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically tell yourself to nod off. You need some drive present to bring the sleep on to begin with. Personally, I can often nap in full light and awaken on my own without a timer, but what helps a lot of people is to wait for a time when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and calmly allow sleep to come.”
Experimentation is key, and if you have few options – for example, if you’re trying to squeeze in some shut-eye during a commute or at the office – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will
