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Listen to enough self-improvement gurus, and you'll be simple to believe that napping is a secret weapon: more than a sticking plaster following a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to improved recall, a brighter outlook and maybe improved athletic performance. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do concert pianists, UFC champions & media moguls. However, if you lack a room for napping or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?

Exploring The Drive to Snooze

“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert circadian rhythm specialist. “Firstly, there's known as recovery napping, that is what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are anticipating insufficient sleep in the future, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to the wish: you get a moment to sleep in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”

The first thing to consider, therefore, is consider your nap motivation. “Napping can be really helpful when night sleeping gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep physiologist. “However, if you take a nap because your nighttime sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently a signal your sleep drive is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into a contributing factor, rather than the answer. Employ naps as a short-term solution for short-term problems – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent night’s sleep.”

The Perfect Nap Length

This implies that daytime sleep ought not to be too extended to interfere with your overnight rest, and best shouldn’t take place in the late afternoon (based on the time you go to bed at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa discovered that space travelers experienced improvements of over 50% in alertness and a 34% boost in cognitive performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – many individuals doze off within 10 minutes,” notes a sleep expert. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the perfect length for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything else – and the most counterproductive thing one can do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”

Should you decide to sleep for longer, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that encourages that sluggish feeling, that disoriented sensation when you awaken. “Studies indicates it's more effective to opt for a lengthier snooze of 60 to 90 minutes than a medium-length one,” says the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – however, if you extend it slightly longer to a full sleep cycle, you will probably to finish a full cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you’re sleeping for an hour and a half, it will affect your sleep that night.”

Creating the Perfect Sleep Space

When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. A few professionals propose adopting similar routines you use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should just doze on the sofa in whatever light is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Sleep is something really tricky to will,” explains a sleep coach. “Lacking any drowsiness, it is more challenging to lie down and basically instruct yourself to go to sleep. There must be some sleep pressure present to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and awaken on my own alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to wait for an instance when they are naturally feeling a bit drowsy and calmly ease into sleep.”

Trying different approaches is valuable, and should your choices are limited – for example, if attempting to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or at the office – it's acceptable with bringing a few tools. “In my work with footballers, I advise that they avoid becoming accustomed to sleeping in their bed, as they’re going to have|they will