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Hear a few performance podcasters, and you'll be simple to think that a nap is a superpower: rather than a band-aid after restless night, but a path towards improved recall, improved mood and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Premier League soccer players do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. But if you haven’t got a special sleep space or a career that allows daytime sleep, are there *really* sufficient advantages to a short sleep for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to honestly promise you will arise feeling better, instead of groggy?

Identifying Your Reasons for Napping

“Experts note three key drivers for napping among most adults,” says a professor of circadian rhythm researcher. “The first is known as make-up sleep, essentially what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. The second is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for example when working graveyard shifts. The third is called “pleasure-based sleep”, which essentially comes down to wanting: you have a chance to doze during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”

The initial step to do, so, is consider why you want to nap. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is being disrupted due to causes you cannot change – for example, when you are caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or strenuous activity,” states a sleep expert. “Yet when you’re napping since your sleep at night seems unreliable or broken, that can be an indicator your body's sleep pressure is not where it should be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure to address immediate needs – the priority must always be a solid and consistent overnight rest.”

The Ideal Snooze Time

This means that napping ought not to be sufficiently lengthy to disrupt your sleep at night, and best are not recommended post-3 p.m. (depending on when you retire at night). What duration is wise? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies regarding daytime sleep, researchers at Nasa discovered that crew members showed a boost of up to 54% in vigilance and a 34% boost in task performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this included an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for half an hour or less – many individuals are asleep within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “There’s a lot of recommendations about the perfect length for sleeping, however, that can make people feel more worried than anything – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to nod off is worry about it.”

If you plan to sleep for longer, steer clear of the 45 to 60 minute range that promotes sleep inertia, that spaced-out feeling when you wake. “Research suggests it's more effective to opt for an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is long enough to put you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – whereas if you extend it a little longer to 60 or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more rejuvenated. Though if you're dozing for an hour and a half, it will affect how you sleep that night.”

Finding the Right Snooze Setting

As for specific techniques, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals propose adopting similar routines you use to foster restful sleep: a peaceful area, a cozy bed and maximum darkness as is feasible. Others suggest that it's fine to simply nap on a couch with ambient lighting is available – both to discourage post-nap grogginess and to maintain your sleeping quarters as the place you associate with nighttime rest. “Napping is quite challenging to force,” says a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and essentially command yourself to go to sleep. There must be a natural inclination available to initiate sleep initially. Personally, I can often nap during the day and naturally wake up alarm-free, but what helps a lot of people is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply ease into sleep.”

Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – for instance, if attempting to fit in a quick nap while traveling or in a work pod – it's acceptable to employ a few tools. “In my work with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, as they’re going to have|they will