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Hear enough performance podcasters, making it easy to believe that a nap is a powerful tool: more than a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a route towards a better memory, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers do it regularly – and so are concert pianists, fighters and media moguls. However, if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or employment that allows daytime sleep, is it *truly* worthwhile perks to a burst of shut-eye to merit the kerfuffle? Can you find a surefire technique to nod off promptly? Plus, is it possible to truly ensure you’ll wake up feeling better, instead of groggy?

Exploring The Drive to Snooze

“There are three key drivers for napping for many people,” explains a leading sleep science researcher. “One is known as make-up sleep, essentially what you do when you’ve had a lack of sleep the night before. Another is preparatory napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep ahead, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third reason is “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to desire: there is a moment to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to do it.”

The initial step to undertake, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Daytime sleep can be really helpful when overnight rest gets interrupted due to causes outside your control – such as, when you are caring for an infant, or recovering from sickness or intense exercise,” explains a sleep physiologist. “Yet when you take a nap as your sleep at night feels fragile or poor, that’s often a signal your body's sleep pressure is not as strong as it should be. In those cases, napping can become part of the problem, rather than the answer. Utilize daytime sleep as a temporary measure for temporary issues – the focus must always be a strong and predictable night’s sleep.”

The Ideal Nap Length

This implies that daytime sleep must not be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and best shouldn’t take place after about 3pm (based on what time you go to bed at night). What duration is wise? Guidelines are mixed. From the most referenced research about napping, experts found that crew members experienced improvements of over 50% in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance post a 26-minute snooze (to be precise, this involved an initial six-minute sleep onset time). “I recommend setting a timer for 20 to 30 minutes – many individuals are asleep in under ten minutes,” says a sleep coach. “There is plenty of recommendations concerning the optimal amount of minutes, yet that often make people feel more worried than anything else – and the worst thing one can do when trying to get to sleep is to stress over it.”

Should you decide to nap for a longer period, steer clear of the period between 45 and 60 minutes that promotes that sluggish feeling, that foggy state upon waking. “Studies would say it’s better to have a longer nap of one to one and a half hours rather than a mid-length nap,” explains the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is long enough to put you into slow-wave sleep making it more likely to feel disoriented when you wake up – however, if you take it a little longer to an hour or 90 minutes, it's likely you'll to be on the end a natural sleep cycle and are likely to get up feeling more alert. Though if you're dozing for 90 minutes, it will affect your sleep later that night.”

Establishing the Right Nap Environment

When it comes to exact methodologies, recommendations vary. Some experts propose employing similar routines you use to promote restful sleep: a peaceful area, a comfortable bed and maximum darkness as you can manage. Some advise that one could merely snooze on a couch with ambient lighting is available – to prevent sleep inertia and to “protect” your bedroom as the environment your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to command,” says an expert. “Without the urge to sleep, it is tougher to get comfortable and practically command yourself to go to sleep. There’s got to be a natural inclination present to start the process to begin with. Personally, I can often take a nap in broad daylight and wake up naturally alarm-free, but what helps most folks is to wait for a time where they feel naturally slightly tired and just gently ease into sleep.”

Experimentation is key, and should options are scarce – such as, if you’re trying to fit in a quick nap during a commute or in a soundproof office pod – it's acceptable with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with footballers, I recommend that they don’t get used to their own bed for naps, since they’re going to have|they will