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Hear a few self-improvement podcasters, and it’s tempting to think that a nap is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid following a bad night’s sleep, but a route to a better memory, improved mood and maybe improved athletic performance. Premier League athletes swear by it – as do musicians, fighters & business leaders. However, if you don't have a room for napping or employment that encourages frequent naps, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep for it to be worth the effort? Is there a dependable method to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you truly ensure you will get up feeling refreshed, instead of groggy?

Identifying The Nap Motivation

“We can identify three primary motivations for daytime sleep among most adults,” explains an expert sleep and circadian science researcher. “The first is termed make-up sleep, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Secondly, there's prophylactic napping, which involves anticipating insufficient sleep coming up, for example if you’re working on night shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which basically is about the wish: you get a moment to doze in the daytime, and it's enjoyable to nap.”

The primary task to consider, so, is to examine your nap motivation. “Napping can be truly beneficial when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – such as, if you’re a new parent, or recovering from illness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping because your night sleep is unstable or unreliable, that’s often a sign your sleep drive is not as strong as it needs to be. In those cases, napping can become a contributing factor, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the main goal should still be a robust and regular sleep at night.”

The Ideal Snooze Time

Therefore that naps must not be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and preferably shouldn’t take place post-3 p.m. (contingent on the time you sleep in the evening). What's a reasonable length? Recommendations vary. Among the most referenced research about napping, space agency scientists discovered that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in attentiveness plus a 34% rise in cognitive performance following a nap of 26 minutes (in detail, this included an initial six-minute falling asleep phase). “My advice is using an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off quickly,” explains a sleep expert. “There’s a lot of guidance out there about the perfect length for sleeping, yet that often cause people to feel more worried than anything – and the worst thing one can do when trying to fall asleep is to be anxious.”

If you’re going to take an extended nap, bypass the period between 45 and 60 minutes that induces that sluggish feeling, that foggy state when you wake. “Research suggests it is preferable to take a longer nap of one to one and a half hours compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the sleep scientist. “Three-quarters of an hour is enough time to plunge you into a deep sleep stage making it more likely to feel groggy when you wake up – while if you nap for a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you will probably to be completing a natural sleep cycle and are likely to awaken feeling more alert. However, if you’re sleeping for 90 minutes, it may impact how you sleep later that night.”

Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting

As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts suggest employing the same protocol you’d use to encourage quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a cozy bed and minimal light as possible. Alternatively, experts propose that one could just doze on the sofa in whatever light is available – both to discourage sleep inertia and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with nighttime rest. “Falling asleep is notoriously difficult to will,” notes a specialist. “Lacking any sleepiness, it is tougher to lie down and basically tell yourself to fall asleep. There must be a natural inclination there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and wake up naturally without an alarm, however, what assists many individuals is to anticipate an instance that they’re naturally slightly tired and calmly relax into it.”

Trying different approaches is valuable, and if you have few options – such as, if you’re trying to fit in some shut-eye while traveling or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ some accessories. “Coaching footballers, I suggest that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, because they’re going to have|they will