The Key to a Flawless Kip: Timing, Where & for How Long?
Listen to enough productivity experts, and it’s easy to convince yourself that dozing is a powerful tool: not just a quick fix after restless night, but a route to enhanced cognition, a brighter outlook and possibly quicker running times. Professional athletes are all at it – as do musicians, UFC champions and business leaders. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye to justify the effort? Is there a dependable method to fall asleep fast? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?
Exploring The Reasons for Napping
“Experts note three primary motivations for taking a nap for many people,” says a professor of sleep science specialist. “The first is known as make-up sleep, that is what happens after experiencing a lack of sleep the night before. Secondly, there's pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for example if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “hedonic napping”, which basically is about wanting: you get a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to nap.”
The first thing to undertake, then, is to examine why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed because of factors outside your control – for instance, when you are caring for an infant, or you’re recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you nap since your nighttime sleep feels fragile or broken, that’s often a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level required. In such situations, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, rather than the answer. Use napping for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal must always be a solid and consistent sleep at night.”
The Optimal Nap Duration
This implies that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your sleep at night, and ideally shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (depending on when you go to bed at night). How long is sensible? Advice differs. In one of a prominent study on the subject, experts noted that astronauts showed a boost of up to 54% in attentiveness and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (technically, this included a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – most people doze off quickly,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of advice around regarding the perfect length for sleeping, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can possibly do when trying to get to sleep is worry about it.”
If you’re going to nap for a longer period, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation upon waking. “The science indicates it is preferable to opt for an extended nap of 60 to 90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” notes the expert. “45 minutes is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish upon awakening – however, if you extend it a little longer to a full sleep cycle, it's likely you'll to be completing of a sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it can influence the quality of your sleep that night.”
Finding the Right Snooze Setting
When it comes to specific techniques, recommendations vary. Some experts propose employing comparable habits you use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Others suggest that one could merely snooze in a chair in whatever light is available – to prevent post-nap grogginess and to “protect” your bed as the environment your brain links with *real* sleep. “Napping is quite challenging to command,” says a sleep coach. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and basically instruct yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some drive available to initiate sleep in the first place. For me, it's possible to snooze in full light and awaken on my own without an alarm, but what helps a lot of people is to look for a moment that they’re naturally somewhat sleepy and just gently relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye on a train or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing a few tools. “When I’m working with elite athletes, I advise that they not rely on sleeping in their bed, since they’re going to have|they will
