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Hear a few performance podcasters, making it simple to think that a nap is a secret weapon: not just a sticking plaster after poor sleep, but a route to improved recall, better spirits and perhaps improved athletic performance. Elite footballers are all at it – and so are concert pianists, fighters and business leaders. However, if you lack a dedicated nap-room or employment that encourages frequent naps, are there *really* worthwhile perks to a short sleep to justify the kerfuffle? Does there exist a surefire technique to get to sleep quickly enough? Furthermore, can you truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling refreshed, not worse?

Identifying Your Drive to Snooze

“We can identify three primary motivations for taking a nap in the adult population,” says a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's termed make-up sleep, which is the action you take following a lack of sleep the previous night. The second is pre-emptive sleep, where you are preparing for sleep loss ahead, such as when working graveyard shifts. Finally, there's “appetitive drive”, which basically boils down to wanting: there is a moment to sleep during the day, and it's enjoyable to do it.”

The primary task to undertake, therefore, is consider your reason for napping. “Napping can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep is disturbed for reasons you cannot change – for instance, for a parent of a newborn, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” states a sleep specialist. “However, if you take a nap since your nighttime sleep is unstable or broken, that can be a sign your need for sleep is not as strong as it needs to be. Under those circumstances, daytime sleep can turn into part of the issue, instead of the fix. Employ naps as a temporary measure for short-term problems – the focus must always be a robust and regular night’s sleep.”

The Ideal Nap Duration

This implies that napping must not be too extended to disrupt your overnight rest, and preferably should not occur in the late afternoon (based on the time you retire at night). What's a reasonable length? Guidelines are mixed. In one of a prominent study about napping, experts found that astronauts showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance following a nap of 26 minutes (to be precise, this involved a six-minute sleep onset time). “My advice is setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals fall asleep quickly,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of advice around concerning the optimal amount of time, however, that can lead individuals to become more worried than anything else – and the least helpful action one can do when trying to nod off is to be anxious.”

Should you decide to nap for a longer period, bypass the 45 to 60 minute range that induces sleep grogginess, that foggy state when you awaken. “The science suggests it’s better to have an extended nap of one to one and a half hours than a medium-length one,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to send you into deep sleep making it more likely to feel groggy upon awakening – while if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you’re likely to finish a natural sleep cycle and should wake up feeling more refreshed. However, if you nap for 90 minutes, it will affect how you sleep that night.”

Establishing the Perfect Nap Environment

As for exact methodologies, suggestions are diverse. A few professionals suggest employing similar routines one would use to foster a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as is feasible. Alternatively, experts propose that it's fine to just doze on the sofa with ambient lighting happens to be around – to avoid that groggy feeling and to preserve your bed as the space your brain links with *real* sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to force,” explains a specialist. “If you don’t have the urge to sleep, it is more challenging to lie down and practically instruct yourself to nod off. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to bring the sleep on initially. For me, it's possible to snooze during the day and naturally wake up without an alarm, though, what aids most folks is to anticipate a moment when they are naturally somewhat sleepy and then simply relax into it.”

Experimentation is key, and when you have few options – for instance, if you’re trying to grab 40 winks on a train or in a work pod – there’s nothing wrong to employ a few tools. “When I’m working with professional sportspeople, I suggest that they avoid becoming accustomed to napping in bed, since they’re going to have|they will