Can’t Sleep? Try ‘Quiet Wakefulness’ Instead
Stop trying so hard to nap. Resting could have similar benefits.
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When professional sports organizations are looking to build a nap room for players, one of the first things that sleep specialist W. Christopher Winter, M.D., tells them is: Don’t call it that.
“We try to get teams to call these rooms something that doesn’t have ‘sleep’ or ‘nap’ in the title — the ‘restoration room’ or the ‘regeneration room,’ for example,” explains Winter, who consults with the MLB, NHL, and NBA.
The reason: To take away that implied, it’s-time-to-sleep pressure where your experience is considered successful if you sleep and a failure if you don’t.
The other reason: It introduces the idea of a powerful resting activity called “quiet wakefulness,” which is gaining traction among sleep doctors and busy-but-health-conscious circles.
What exactly is quiet wakefulness?
In short, it’s simply resting with your eyes closed. It’s compelling, in part, because it completely eliminates the stress surrounding sleep — particularly that I can’t fall asleep right now so my health is going to fall apart feeling that keeps you awake.
Stress and naps are a common yet unfortunate pairing, Dr. Winter explains. Many people can work themselves up so much about falling asleep that they struggle to actually do it.
But while you might not be able to fully control exactly when you fall asleep, you can control when you rest — and that’s one of quiet wakefulness’ biggest benefits.
Of course, that’s normal. “Most people don’t have complete control over their sleep,” Dr. Winter acknowledges. It would be strange, he says, to meet somebody who says, I have never had any trouble sleeping whatsoever. Having occasional sleep problems is to be expected.
But while you might not be able to fully control exactly when you fall asleep, you can control when you rest — and that’s one of quiet wakefulness’ biggest benefits.
