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Tune into enough self-improvement experts, and you'll be easy to think that napping is a powerful tool: rather than a band-aid after restless night, but a shortcut to a better memory, a brighter outlook and possibly improved athletic performance. Premier League footballers do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, UFC champions & high-profile executives. Yet, when you don't have a special sleep space or a job that encourages regular snoozing, is it *truly* enough benefits to a short sleep to justify the effort? Is there a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling improved, rather than worse?

Exploring Your Nap Motivation

“There are three primary motivations for daytime sleep for many people,” notes an expert circadian rhythm researcher. “One is termed make-up sleep, essentially what you do following insufficient sleep the previous night. The second is preparatory napping, where you are preparing for a sleep deficit in the future, for instance when working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which simply boils down to the wish: you have a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”

The primary task to consider, therefore, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be genuinely useful when night sleeping is disturbed for reasons beyond your control – for instance, for caring for an infant, or if you are healing from illness or heavy physical exertion,” states a sleep physiologist. “But if you’re napping since your night sleep seems unreliable or unreliable, that is frequently an indicator your need for sleep is not where it needs to be. In such situations, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Employ naps for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority should still be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”

The Optimal Snooze Time

This means that napping ought not to be long enough to interfere with your nighttime sleep, and best should not occur after about 3pm (depending on the time you go to bed at night). What's a reasonable length? Advice differs. From the most-cited studies on the subject, researchers at Nasa noted that astronauts had improvements of over 50% in alertness plus a 34% rise in task performance post a 26-minute snooze (in detail, this counted an initial six-minute nodding-off period). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – the majority doze off within 10 minutes,” explains a sleep coach. “You'll find much advice around concerning the perfect length of time, but that tends to cause people to feel more stressed above all – and the most counterproductive thing you can do when trying to get to sleep is to be anxious.”

If you’re going to nap for a longer period, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that spaced-out feeling upon waking. “Studies would say it is preferable to take a lengthier snooze of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” says the expert. “Forty-five minutes is sufficient to plunge you into a deep sleep stage and it is more probable to feel sluggish upon awakening – while if you nap for a bit longer to an hour or 90 minutes, you’re likely to be on the end of a sleep cycle and should get up feeling more refreshed. However, if you’re sleeping for a long period, it will affect the quality of your sleep that night.”

Establishing an Ideal Sleep Space

When it comes to precise methods, advice differs. Some experts propose using the same protocol one would use to foster quality nighttime sleep: a quiet room, a supportive surface and as much darkness as possible. Some advise that it's fine to merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting happens to be around – both to discourage that groggy feeling and to “protect” your sleeping quarters as the space your brain links with proper sleep. “Sleep is something really tricky to command,” says an expert. “If you don’t have any drowsiness, it is more challenging to recline and essentially command yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure present to start the process to begin with. I can usually take a nap in full light and wake up naturally alarm-free, though, what aids many individuals is to wait for a moment where they feel naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply allow sleep to come.”

It’s worth experimenting, and should options are scarce – for example, if attempting to grab some shut-eye while traveling or in a soundproof office pod – it is perfectly fine to employ sleep aids. “Coaching footballers, I recommend that they avoid becoming accustomed to their own bed for naps, as they’re going to have|they will