Best Body Positions for Napping
Daytime naps are usually triggered by sleepiness too pronounced to continue the current activity. Sometimes caffeine aborts the nap by reducing excess adenosine molecules in your bloodstream; however, many prefer napping. Everyone who dozes off wants to feel better afterwards. Regrettably, some feel worse after naps so they make efforts to avoid dozing, going so far as using stimulants to override drowsiness. By the way, feeling worse after napping is a reliable indicator of an underlying sleep quality problem, likely benefiting from a professional consultation.
The best body position for YOUR nap almost always depends on what you hope to achieve soon after awakening. If one person needs to drive a car or mow the lawn compared to someone who reads a book or studies for an exam, different body positions influence each end of this spectrum.
How long you end up sleeping also influences your post-nap status, and body position frequently determines how long you remain asleep. Let’s examine the common occurrence of a driver’s scenario. Fortunately, many individuals now realize the need to stop driving when too sleepy. When a person naps after driving alone, the individual would need to either be back on the road in a hurry or have time to languish at a rest stop.
For the latter, the individual may roll back the seat all the way to flat or minimal incline, which creates an opportunity for a longer respite with one obvious caveat—if he or she suffers from sleep breathing issues, then airway positioning is another “body position” to address. Your best head and neck position usually coincides with detectably smooth or plentiful nasal air flow.
Whether you sleep on your back or on your side, you want to prevent jaw drop. Two methods include a neck support with a pillow or coat tucked under the chin or forearms folded upwards to lodge both fists snugly under the chin.
In contrast, a driver racing a clock needs a shorter nap to decrease the potential for dangerous sleep inertia adversely impacting post-nap reaction time. Napping in the upright position or napping “forward” with head against steering wheel or dashboard solves two issues. It protects breathing and becomes uncomfortable rapidly enough to serve as your alarm clock. For a student in a hurry to study for a test, forehead down, centered on forearms produces the shortest nap, whereas turning the head to a side is more comfortable though less protective of the airway. Thus, depending on the status of your sleep breathing, turning your head sideways yields longer sleep through comfort or shorter sleep if the airway is compromised.
Through experimentation, you are likely to discover the best napping position to match your optimal post-nap functioning. Biologically, naps serve critical functions, likely activating your brain’s “self-cleaning” glymphatic system, decreasing excess sleepiness-inducing adenosine molecules, or rejuvenating your brain cells in some other ways. If you nap on an occasional basis or more frequently, then for your personal safety and daytime productivity put in the time to learn your best positions for short or long naps.
A final caveat: when napping messes up your night time sleep routine, dozing off during the day should be avoided. Nonetheless, when napping must occur, try the age-old formula prescribed for insomniacs: make your nap short and take it earlier in the day.