In Taiwan, it's perfectly acceptable to sleep with one's coworkers-"sleep" being the operative word.

Brief catnaps after lunch are commonplace in many Taiwanese companies. Typically, all workers take lunch around the same time, from noon to 1:30. After eating, those employees who wish to can flick off their desk lamps, pull out a pillow, and take a snooze lasting perhaps 15 to 30 minutes. Even those workers who aren't napping will usually dim their lights and speak softly until the break is over.

"In Chinese medicine, a rest at noon is considered good for your health," says Violet Cheong, a Taiwanese editor. "It's generally believed that a nap will help workers with alertness and productivity in the afternoon."

There's new research to support this belief. Studies show that the human body is programmed to take a dip in energy at midday, whether food is eaten or not. "Even a nap as short as five minutes can increase alertness and memory skills," says Sara Mednick, a sleep expert at the University of California-San Diego's Laboratory of Sleep and Behavioral Neuroscience. A 15-minute power nap can boost concentration, dexterity, mood, and overall health.

Safety. Drooping eyelids on the job do more than hurt productivity. They can also prove fatal. In her book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life, Mednick notes that sleep deprivation causes countless minor accidents and contributed to some major workplace disasters-including the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Union Carbide chemical explosion in India, and the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl. The United States is a "nation of the walking tired," she writes, "so much so that 51 percent of the workforce reports that sleepiness on the job interferes with the volume of work they can do."

That exhaustion can be a costly problem. According to a January 2007 article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, "workers with fatigue cost employers $136.4 billion annually in health-related LPT [lost productive time]."

So are U.S. employers embracing the benefits of naps? Keep dreaming.

"There is definitely a stigma against napping," says Andrew Moore-Ede with Circadian Technologies Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in work hours and productivity. In its recent survey of U.S. companies that run beyond 9 to 5 (mostly 24-7), fully 75 percent do not allow napping, and many punish workers caught sleeping on the job.

But tired workers can lapse into "microsleeps" of just a few seconds, says Moore-Ede, which can lead to truck crashes or assembly-line mishaps. "It's better to manage napping than to ban it," he says.

A few American companies are beginning to see the light. Yarde Metals in Connecticut has a "Z-Lounge" with a zero-gravity chair that rotates and surrounds the napper with soothing smells, sounds, and images like babbling brooks and crackling fires.

But nap space needn't be so elaborate. Companies should take the hint from Taiwan: Buy employees pillows instead of an espresso machine, and watch the bottom line soar.

This story appears in the March 26, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

With all the demands of the college lifestyle and the perpetual lack of sleep that tends to go along with it, college students often find themselves looking for alternative ways to help them to keep on going.

However, despite the popularity and convenience of the variety of coffees, sodas and energy drinks, it seems that a short nap is the most effective and healthy way for sleep deprived students to recharge.

Jim Almeda, health educator and faculty sponsor of Peer Educators, said that while naps do have the potential to throw off your sleep cycle, most research supports the notion that naps can be beneficial.

"We suggest to college students that they try and go to bed at about the same time every night and try to get in about eight hours of sleep. However, the college lifestyle may not always allow for this, so taking a nap during the day may help some students feel more rested overall," Almeda said.

Almeda said the key to an effective nap is to keep it relatively short and not take it too late in the day. The length of a typical "power nap" should be between 15 to 20 minutes, which is just enough time to get some real rest and not fall into a deeper sleep cycle. He also said a good target time to take a nap would be between noon and two in the afternoon.

There are also a number of professional offices that are realizing the possible benefits of napping and are allowing time for their employees to sleep during the workday.

Some even provide napping areas with comfortable chairs and couches.

However, most professionals agree that a good night's rest is the best way to stay energized.

Dr. David West, medical director of the Sleep Center of Central Illinois, said he feels that the best way to maintain a healthy sleep cycle is to get enough sleep in the first place.

"In general, everyone should get an appropriate amount of sleep each night," West said.

West suggests that college students should get approximately eight to 10 hours of sleep each night and should also try and get themselves on a regular sleeping routine.

"There are no quick fixes when it comes to not getting enough sleep," West said.

However, West also mentioned that if a student is truly sleep deprived, taking a short nap is a reasonable method to rest.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Just seeing a new customer at the door, the employee of a ‘sleep service’ shop on Pham Ngoc Thach Road, District 3, HCM City, welcomed him and took him to a big room with an air conditioner, where over ten people were staying already. Most of them are office staff.

The room has several sofas with pillows. Music came from a corner, mixing with low voices. A moment later, some customers began to snore. Sleep came quickly.

In another room, nearly 20 people were sitting against the wall, their legs stretched on the timber floor. This is the room for those who want to have a sitting sleep.

“Those customers are mainly state employees who have only around 30 minutes for a nap,” an employee of the ‘sleeping shop’ explained.

At noon, at a small café on the corner of Le Thanh Ton - Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, two young girls who look like employees of foreign offices entered, called for two strawberry juices and quickly lied down on a bed.

On an adjacent sofa, a group of four foreign girls were also getting a wink of sleep.

Hong Phuong, an accountant, a regular customer of this café, said: “We often come here for lunch and take a nap after lunch as well. The price for food is quite high but we have a nap to regain strength for the afternoon."

A stock broker said that his colleagues and foreign businessmen often go to an apartment on Le Loi Street to take a siesta. The price for one hour there is VND20,000 and to sleep there customers must book in advance.

Sleep business

Truong Binh Trong, a stock investor, introduced us to an address for naps that businessmen often go to. That’s a house at the corner of Vo Van Tan - Nguyen Thuong Hien roads.

The house looks like a normal office from outside but when customers enter the house they will be immediately welcomed by two charming girls.

“You have come for a nap?” they asked, and led a customer to a room with eight sofas. Five sofas were occupied already. Next to each sofa was a girl who was massaging the face or washing the hair of a sleeping customer.

Thanh Hoa, an employee at this place, explained: “Our job is serving customers in a friendly manner. All customers are well-behaved men who come here to take a nap. If something happened between us and customers, we would be fired."

This shop not only serves men but also women, who are office employees or businesswomen. The price for a sleep at this high-end shop is VND70,000 - 80,000 (US$4.3 - 5), plus fees for massage and hair washing.

Some shops on Bui Thi Xuan Street offer ‘automatic sleep’ service. Whenever customers lie down on the sofa, the massage machine will automatically turn on.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

MOST DAYS, ABOUT 2.30 in the afternoon, I feel myself lagging. My head becomes a little thicker, my reflexes a little slower. I need a nap. Studies showing that naps improve cognition and response time have been coming out for decades. The most recent, released last month, found that individuals who took half-hour naps at least three times a week had a 37 per cent lower risk of death from heart disease.

Five years ago I participated in a study, led by research scientist Sara Mednick, to test whether taking a nap would affect the speed and accuracy with which subjects detected changes in a computer-generated image. The study found that those who stayed awake performed worse over the course of the day, while those (myself included) who took a 30-minute snooze in the middle of the day maintained their speed and accuracy. And those who slept for an hour became faster and more accurate as the day wore on. For me, the benefits of napping aren’t hypothetical; they’re experimentally tested.

Armed with this evidence, you would think I would take more naps. But I don’t. I can’t shake the sense that napping is slothful and decadent, for the lazy and weak. In a society that places a premium on the appearance of productivity – even at the cost of actual productivity – just the impression of wasted time is enough to damn the practice. But it is well established that humans experience a lull around midafternoon, when the homeostatic pressure to sleep briefly overwhelms the circadian signal to remain awake.

Napping has been common practice for most of history, in many cultures – not just in Spain and Latin America, where businesses famously shut down in the hours after lunch. According to Mednick’s new book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life, ancient Roman, Christian, Jewish and Arabic mythologies featured demons roaming the Earth during midday, terrorising those who weren’t safely tucked in bed. One such demon, Poludnica, wandered over the (notably chilly) Slavic regions, carrying shears to signify death.

But the American-style 9-to-5 workday and anti-nap ethos are becoming the norm. More and more businesses in China, where the workday typically began at 8am and ended at 6pm, with a break after lunch for a snooze, are implementing the 9-to-5 schedule. The Spanish government eliminated the siesta for civil servants in 2005 and has launched a campaign to reform the workday and end the siesta for all. The siesta is “not rational, it’s not efficient and it does not pay in terms of family life,” Pasqual Maragall, former president of Catalonia, said last year. In Mexico, former President Ernesto Zedillo ended the nap for government workers in 1999.

This move away from traditional napping is mostly because of the need for standardised business hours in a global economy, the increasing availability of air-conditioning in hot climates and the difficulty of sneaking home for a catnap in a commuter culture. But it also can be traced to the particularly American brand of Puritanism the United States has exported, along with Coca-Cola and Levi’s, that celebrates the appearance of self-denial. Naps are good, but they look bad – and so they are, at best, a guilty pleasure. (The only country bucking this trend is France, where there’s nothing guilty about pleasure and where the health minister recently announced that the government would study the effects of afternoon naps.)

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

This is the kind of story that will make you want to stretch. After reading it, you'll want to go over to the couch, put your head on a pillow, stretch out and catch 40 winks.

Sorry, you can't do that. You probably don't have the time, and your spouse will get mad at you.

But if you're in the NHL, that's quite another story.

As if it isn't enough they are paid millions of dollars to play a game, have fans screaming their names and stay in the best hotels in the best parts of the best cities, NHLers have another perk in their life: the afternoon power nap.

It's a hockey tradition, probably as old as the game itself.

"It's not a matter of `Will I?' It's a matter of `How long?'" says Maple Leafs centre Travis Green. "It's just something we do.

"I guarantee we all look forward to it. It's great. Even when I get home in the summer I tell my wife I've got to shut it down in the afternoon. We're like robots."

NHLers are creatures of habit. Whether you're a rookie like John Pohl or a hall of famer like Dick Duff, the nap is part of life.

"The season can be long, it can be tiring," Duff said. "It keeps everybody focused on a target. What's normal for you is not normal for anybody else, playing Saturday and Sunday and at night when everybody else is off."

It's not always easy, especially when roommates are involved. There can be snorers, guys who like quiet while other guys like the TV on. Or, you could be rooming with a somnambulist.

"Todd Gill was a sleepwalker," Steve (Stumpy) Thomas says of his former Leaf roommate.

"We were sleeping one time, he woke up all startled and came over to me and he was shaking me. He says: `Stump, are you okay? Are you okay?' I wake up and I'm like, `I'm fine.' He goes: `Holy cow... I thought I ran you over in my golf cart.'"

Research out of Greece suggests what NHLers have always known: the midday nap is good for you.

The study, published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that siestas reduced the risk of death from heart disease by about a third among men and women.

Researchers believe getting more sleep generally supports a healthier lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise, and the positive effect of taking a break reduces stress, thus reducing levels of stress hormones in the bloodstream that are known to be tough on the heart.

For NHLers, it's simple common sense.

"I've always napped," says Pohl. "What else are you going to do? Your whole life is hockey and sleep, there's no time for anything else."

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Eyewitness News

(New York - WABC, March 12, 2007) - Do you find yourself dragging during the day, and that a little shut eye would pull you through?

What if you could catch a cat nap somewhere cozy, and return to work feeling refreshed?

Eyewitness News reporter Lauren Glassberg has just the place.

Victoria Ross hasn't gotten a whole lot of sleep lately.

"I've been traveling, so I've had a cumulative of about 12 hours in the last five days," she said. "So I'm pretty tired."

She's hoping a place called Yelo will help her catch up.

Inside the sleek and serene Midtown space are seven private chambers, designed to induce sleep.

"I was very exhausted most of the time," Nicolas Ronco said.

Ronco's own exhaustion inspired him to create these napping nooks to help revive the tired masses.

Lauren: You nap here and it will benefit your whole existence.
Ronco: Absolutely. And that's something that was really important to me from the get-go, which is really to help people, particularly in a city like New York, where the main thing that we're lacking is space and time, and giving back people's space and time," he said.

Victoria settled into her chair with a cashmere blanket. She begins with a little reflexology, which costs more than just a nap, but can help get you to that twilight state.

Thirty minutes later, the lights are turned down. Music is an option. There are 5,000 playlists and channels to choose from, but there are some restrictions.

"The only thing you cannot listen to is hip hop and hard rock, because we don't think it's relaxing," Ronco said.

Naps run 20 minutes for $12 or 40 minutes for $24 dollars. And when your time is up, an LED light will begin to brighten, as though you're waking up with the sun. Sound too good to be true? Just ask Victoria.

"I was skeptical about the power nap," she said. "Whether or not I'd fall asleep, and I did. I was out cold."

And now she's ready to seize the day, again.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

THE WATER COOLER
Nap more effective than coffee

Associated Press
Published March 12, 2007

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Four Points partners with Nap doctor.
Monday, 12th March 2007
Source : Four Points by Sheraton

Four Points invites the sleep deprived to take a nap and celebrate national napping day, with tips from the renowned nap doctor.

Are you one of the 75 percent of adults who experiences daytime sleepiness? Studies show that over 50 percent of adult Americans are sleep-deprived, affecting productivity, stress and overall health. In keeping with the Four Points by Sheraton commitment to spreading the gospel of life’s Simple Pleasures^SM, the brand has partnered with William A. Anthony**, Ph.D., also known as the Nap Doctor, to promote the benefits of a good nap and celebrate the eighth annual National Napping Day on Monday, March 12, 2007.

The Four Points by Sheraton brand is the official hotel sponsor of National Napping Day, which was created by Boston University Professor William A. Anthony**, Ph.D. and his wife Camille Anthony, president of The Napping Company, in 1999. National Napping Day follows on the heels of Daylight Savings Time when we all “spring forward” and lose a much-needed hour of sleep. Four Points is encouraging the public to make time for a little extra shut-eye and is sending thousands of weary travelers a virtual nap with tips on how to successfully sneak in a few extra winks.

Stop Stressing – Improve your Health and Take a Nap!

Did you know that the benefits of napping include increased alertness, lower stress levels, significantly reduced risk of heart disease and increased enthusiasm? Science has also shown that naps can have a positive effect on both mood and performance.

"Four Points is dedicated to spreading the benefits of a good nap with the sleep deprived public,” said Sandy Swider, vice president of Four Points by Sheraton. “There is nothing more satisfying and uncomplicated than a great afternoon nap and Four Points mantra is to share with the masses all of life’s simple pleasures, especially the ones that are good for you!”

"We applaud Four Points by Sheraton for recognizing the importance of taking the time to relax and recharge,” commented Professor Bill Anthony, Ph.D. “Four Points’ commitment to providing simple pleasures with little indulgences is a natural fit for National Napping Day.”

So what are you waiting for? Listed below is The Napping Company’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Nappers” to help you on your way to a better nap:

1. Announce your nap to yourself and if possible to your family, friends or colleagues.

For many people this has been the key step to guilt free, productive napping. By “announcing” your nap to yourself you are reinforcing and reminding yourself of the productivity and health benefits of napping.

2. Gather your napnomic devices

This much we know is true—nappers have certain devices that make their nap more pleasurable. We call these napnomic devices, i. e., things that assist you to nap. When you were a toddler, perhaps you had a teddy bear, a favorite blanket, a pacifier. Now that you are an adult napper you have put away your childish things, and have other napnomic devices. These might be certain pillows, your favorite bed, soft music, cool bed sheets, workout clothes, etc.

3. Insure a method for on-time awakening

Concern about on time awakening can ruin a good nap, so the Nap Doctor recommends nappers use wristwatches, clock or radio alarms to awaken successfully. When napping at a hotel the wakeup service can be used.

4. Insure control of your nap environment, including a plan to avoid nappus interruptus

Nappers need to feel secure in their nap, knowing not only that they have a method to wake up, but also that they will not be awakened prematurely, i.e., experience nappus interruptus. Common strategies are to shut off the phone, hold calls, and/or find an out-of-the way or secretive napping spot. Four Points nappers can use the doorknob sign asking for privacy.

5. Revel in the nap

Enjoy! No relevant suggestions here if you master the other six habits.

6. Deal with sleep inertia, if necessary

Sleep inertia is that groggy and slightly disorienting feeling that some nappers experience when awakening from a nap. Some people believe that if you nap about 40-60 minutes you will be waking up from a deep sleep and are more apt to experience sleep inertia. To combat sleep inertia they recommend naps of shorter duration (20-30 minutes).

7. Begin to plan your next nap as you awaken from this nap It is important to make napping opportunities a traditional part of your daily planning, even if you don’t always use the opportunity.

For travelers in need of a few extra winks, Four Points’ guests can indulge in a mid-day nap in the brand’s signature Four Points by Sheraton Four Comfort Bed® - a multi-layered cocoon of comfort perfect to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Laura Robin, CanWest News Service

Published: Saturday, March 10, 2007

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Across the parking lot from The Observer office is Children's Corner daycare.

On summer afternoons when the tree in front of that building is in full bloom, it casts a comforting shade on one of the windows where the children inside take their naps.

The window is raised just enough at about one or two o'clock in the afternoon to allow a gentle breeze to blow through. The children are put down to sleep for an hour or so. They awake refreshed, energized and ready to go for the rest of the afternoon.

If it's OK for children to nap in the afternoon, shouldn't it be OK for adults to grab a power nap, too? More and more research is suggesting that many can benefit from afternoon naps - that snoozing isn't losing.

Consider these factors:

According to USA Today, in a study published in the February issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, Greek adults who took regular naps were significantly less likely to die of heart disease than those who ddin't. The study showed that working men benefited most.

Fast-living New Yorkers are paying $12 and up to nap at trendy sleep salons, the New York Times reported recently.

In a book published recently, Take a Nap, Change Your Life, psychologist and author Sara Mednick, said there are benefits to napping in the afternoon. Doctors are in agreement, too.

While small children typically take naps in the afternoon, our culture generally frowns upon mid-day sleep. However, even in those who get enough sleep (but particularly in those who don't), many people experience a natural increase in drowsiness in the afternoon, roughly eight hours after waking. And research shows that you can make yourself more alert, reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a 'power nap', means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health.

Sleep is cumulative. If you lose sleep one day, you feel it the next. If you miss adequate sleep several days in a row, you build up a sleep deficit, which can impair reaction time, judgment, vision, performance, motivation and short-term memory.

As there are pros and cons to each length of sleep, you may want to let your schedule decide, but experts say if you only have 15 minutes to spare, by all means take them. If you only have five minutes to spare, just close your eyes. Even a brief rest has the benefit of reducing stress and helping you relax a little, which can give you more energy to complete the tasks of your day.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

http://www.here-now.org/shows/2007/03/20070306_9.asp

here is an audio file about the benefits of power naps.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

More people are Power Napping!

Not surprisingly, other businesses see the power nap as a money-making opportunity, to sell chairs, cocoons, pods and other devices.
Take Yarde Metals, a firm specializing in metal sales and distribution whose 640 employees work round-the-clock, many running heavy equipment like forklifts.
Typical in such companies is a break room with vending machine snacks and coffee. But Yarde has gone one step further -- equipping its headquarters in Connecticut with a “serenity suite”.
“It’s full stress management”, said spokeswoman Susan Kozikowski. “It takes the nap to the next level”.
The room’s sky-blue walls and dusky-colored ceiling and carpets leave nappers feeling like they’re floating when they recline in a chaise longue in so-called “zero-gravity” position. Soft sounds from speakers and aromatherapy relaxants enhance the mood.
“Twenty minutes on this Z-lounge is equivalent to two hours of traditional meditation and four hours of sleep”, according to Kozikowski.
The company feels this is important for night workers, their health, safety and even productivity.
“We run three shifts, people of different ages, some people working more than one job, they have children. For various reasons, for health reasons, they are tired and they need a break”, she said.
A long-term study of Greek men and women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 30-minute mid-day naps can dramatically reduce heart disease.
“The study makes sense”, said Washington University psychiatry professor Peter Vitaliano.
“There’s a big difference in how napping is accepted in Mediterranean countries -- like Greece, Italy and Spain -- versus the cutthroat, boiler-room pressure to be competitive in the United States”, said the Seattle professor.
“Here, if a person naps, people say, ‘You lazy slob’. There they say, ‘Did you have a good nap?’”
Last month, France -- always straddling the line between Mediterranean repose and Northern activity -- joined the debate.
“Why not a nap at work? It must not be a taboo subject”, challenged Health Minister Xavier Bertrand, calling for further studies and pledging to back naps if they proved beneficial. He said one in three people in France, where 68 million boxes of sleeping pills are consumed each year, said they slept poorly, and 56 percent of these felt it lessened their performance at work.
In Asia, napping never went out of style in some countries like China, where foreigners are still surprised to see workers nodding off at their desks for a quick wu xiu or afternoon snooze. Even hard-working Japan has revisited the question, with nap salons attracting the lunchtime crowd in Tokyo.
The first US businesses to adopt work-time siestas were transport firms, airlines and railways. Some hospitals, universities and publicity agencies have also set aside a nap room.
“Here in the US it’s more work oriented and they don’t really grasp the concept of a good siesta yet as in Europe and Latin countries”, said Iarl Grant, executive assistant of Strawberryfrog, a New York advertising agency founded in the Netherlands.
Grant said companies give employees 10-minute cigarette breaks but have no place for a 10-minute nap.
Strawberryfrog has been using a sleep pod for a year, with headphones.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Power Naps are great for you health according to this article!

The next time you get caught snoozing at a desk by a boss or a professor, tell them that sleep could save your life.

The results of the "largest study to date on the health effects of napping" were released in an Associated Press article two weeks ago.�

Researchers followed more than 23,000 healthy Greek adults for about six years and found that those who napped for about half an hour three times a week had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not take a nap, according to the study.

Lowering the risk of heart problems is only one of the benefits of a nap.�

Napping can also restore a person's alertness, enhance performance and reduce mistakes and accidents, according to the National Sleep Foundation's Web site.�

UA senior Loddie Conway is one student who admits to taking the occasional nap.�

"Who doesn't?" Conway said.�

"I am on the go a lot and sometimes I just need a little while to catch up on some lost sleep."

In addition to a full schedule, waking up early for morning classes can also cause students not to get a sufficient amount of sleep at night.

"I probably took more naps when I had a 7:30 a.m. class last semester," senior Ryan Spence said.�

"I would be so anxious to go home and take a long, hard nap," Spence said.

There is currently a trend of business owners attempting to increase their workers' productivity by allowing them to take naps.�

Some of these employers are even offering their associates a designated area for napping by installing a nap pod.

The MetroNaps pod is shaped like a recliner with a spherical device around a person's upper body that "creates a semi-private acoustical and visual environment," according to the Web site.�

The company MetroNaps was founded in 2003 and it "was born from the realization that many employees spend significant amounts of their day dozing at their desk or catching power naps in odd places," according to company's Web site.�

Labels: metronaps, nap, power nap, powernap

Energize by becoming a napster

By CAROLYN POIROT

Star-Telegram Staff Writer.

There is no substitute for sleep.

Scientists say adequate sleep is as important for good health as nutrition and exercise. It's also the easiest way to improve alertness, memory and overall cognitive performance.

Last spring, the Institute of Medicine issued a report on how sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are having devastating effects on the personal health, performance and well-being of tens of millions of Americans.

Since most Americans seem unable to regularly get as much sleep as they need, some researchers are recommending naps when they're needed most -- in the early afternoon.

"What it does is cancel out the detriments of not sleeping; makes up for lost sleep -- reverses sleep deprivation symptoms to make you smarter, healthier, more productive and less stressful," says Sara C. Mednick, Ph.D. "Anyone can benefit from a little daytime snooze."

Mednick is the author of a new book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life.

She talked to the Star-Telegram in a phone interview (so she could take a late-morning nap) about the latest scientific research on napping:

Q: What really woke up medical science to the importance of sleep?

A: About 10 years ago, Harvard researchers started questioning how this thing we spend about one-third of our lives doing affects us physically and mentally.

Q: What kind of nap works best?

A: The effect depends on the length of nap as well as the time of day. As a basic rule, 15 to 20 minutes is about right to make you feel refreshed and alert.... That's why it's called a power nap. It's the kind of nap you most often need about 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon. A nap of 20 to 50 minutes not only restores alertness, but also helps clear the mind of any useless information that has built up, and aids in memorization. A 45-minute nap in the morning ... is good for learning and creativity while a 45-minte nap in the late afternoon will give you more cleansing, slow-wave sleep.

Q: Will a nap during the day keep me awake at night?

A: That's a good thing to worry about, but studies show naps don't interfere with nocturnal sleep.

Q: What can you do to wake up alert and without grogginess?

A: That's called sleep inertia. When your brain is in a deeper sleep, slow-wave pattern, it can be difficult to suddenly shake off the grogginess and get into hyperactive mode.... If you wake up with a little inertia, you can splash water on your face, move around, and have a spot of caffeine to help you through it.

Q: How do college students make up for all the sleep they are missing?

A: High school and college students are in a phase where their sleep patterns are shifting. They don't need any less sleep, but they can go to sleep later at night and then sleep later in the morning. In college, kids learn to control their own sleep cycles. It's OK to stay up late if you can sleep later. I recommend 20-minute naps between classes and work or study time to help them stay alert, and hourlong restorative naps on the weekend to help clear their minds and aid in memorization.

Naps for sale

Two corporate executives were sleeping in hooded lounge chairs in the "napping center" on the 22nd floor of the Empire State Building in New York when we called MetroNaps recently at about 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

"Our peak time is 2 to 4 p.m., and we are busiest in the middle of winter when it gets dark earlier, and people always seem more tired," said Arshad Chowdhury, co-founder of MetroNaps, a company that manufactures, sells and installs sleeping pods, and operates the napping center in the Empire State Building.

Those who stop for a nap in the semi-enclosed lounges sleep on their backs with knees slightly elevated because it takes the weight off their lower backs, and doesn't mess up their hair or makeup or wrinkle their clothes, Chowdhury said in a telephone interview. A 20-minute nap costs $14.

The beds sell for $12,500 and rent for $800 a month. About 100 of them have been sold to 30 businesses, including Procter & Gamble, several spas, three hospitals, an airport and four for the student center at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, he said.

"We were planning to franchise the idea, but now we are concentrating on selling and installing them all over the country," said Chowdhury, who started testing the concept in 2001 after seeing a poll that showed about 30 percent of those surveyed wanted to nap at work if it were allowed.

"Attitudes have changed. We were met with a lot of skepticism when we started looking for a place to rent. Now studies show more and more benefits of sleep, and people better understand the need. People tell me all the time, 'I wish you would put one in my building,'" he said.

National Napping Day

Much of the country will be sleep-deprived on March 12, the day after Daylight Saving Time steals an hour of our precious dozing. It's also National Napping Day, a chance to get "nap-ready." Bill and Camille Anthony, who published The Art of Napping at Work in 1999, organized the first national observance of Napping Day.

A few businesses celebrate with companywide nap breaks that include a free lunch, soothing music and sleep masks. Employees are encouraged to bring mats, lounges and pillows to work, and everyone celebrates "nap time" in the early afternoon, but the observance hasn't spread far and wide, Bill Anthony says.

"It's obvious to me that well-rested workers perform better and more safely on the job. There is less stress, less fatigue, but I guess it's not so obvious to most employers," he says.

Many airlines now allow pilots to nap during long transoceanic flights so that they will be mentally alert and physically quick for landing, and both Burlington Northern and Union Pacific Railroads are "nap-friendly" companies. Anthony maintains a list of what various companies do to promote well-rested employees on his Web site, napping.com.

Napping at work

Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway was among the first companies in the nation to implement a "napping at work policy" when up to 45-minute naps were authorized in 1997.

"We decided it was a good idea to establish this policy about 10 years ago when scientific studies started showing the value of naps for maintaining mental and physical alertness and safety," said Patrick Hiatte, a BNSF spokesman.

An on-duty nap policy was adopted for road crews -- those who work on the trains, including conductors and engineers -- as part of BNSF's "Fatigue Countermeasures" agreement, Hiatte said.

The policy allows employees, on request, to take 14 hours of rest anytime they return to their home terminals, Hiatte says.

The on-duty naps, most often taken while freight trains are waiting for departure or for other trains to pass, must not exceed 45 minutes (including time to fall asleep) and another crew member must stay nearby, awake and ready to wake up the napping co-worker at all times.

The idea is to take turns taking short naps anytime that the train is stopped so napping won't jeopardize the safety of the train or cause delay, Hiatte says.

Labels: metronaps, nap, power nap, powernap

Power Naps are great after lunch!

WE'VE ALL HAD THOSE moments: Usually sometime after lunch, we start to feel lethargic. Our limbs grow heavy. The eyelids begin to feel like 10-pound weights and the head begins to bob.

We jerk upright as we lurch forward, hoping that no one saw us nearly fall asleep on the job.

But according to sleep studies, we'd be a whole lot better off — and so would our employers — if we simply curled up somewhere and went to sleep for a while.

Just like when we were young and needed a nap when we became cranky, tired and unfocused, American adults need a rest period every day in order to perform their best, researchers say. But just the word "nap" is likely to stir controversy in the workplace.

"Talking about taking a nap makes people look at you like you're sleeping with the boss or selling heroin at work," says Dr. Sara C. Mednick, a researcher at the Salk Institute at the University of California, San Diego, and a nap guru. "It's like it's an unbelievably illicit experience."

Mednick says that not only do American workers need to take a nap, but their companies should require it. Studies have shown that sleepy workers have more accidents, are less productive, are more prone to health problems and have poorer morale.

Still, Mednick says she knows it's very hard to convince Americans — who believe hard work 24/7 breeds success — that napping can have a great payoff.

"It's really a lack of foresight," she says. "People just keep working as they are, thinking that they'll have time later to deal with it. But it's like the environment, in that you have to do something now in order to affect the future in a positive way."

Mednick says that napping can "change your life," which is why she has written a new book with Mark Ehrman called "Take a Nap! Change your life," (Workman, $12.95) that outlines how anyone can — and should — incorporate napping into any lifestyle. It provides useful tips on napping, including finding the ideal nap time and duration for you. Some ideas from the book include:

You must be your own sleep therapist. That means you have to understand when, where and how you best can take a nap. Maybe it's in your car at lunch, maybe it's on a mat in a quiet room or maybe it's putting your feet on your desk. You may need to nap only five minutes, or you may require more than an hour, depending on your own body clock.

Napping takes practice. Stress might indeed keep you awake when you first try to nap, but chances are that if you practice relaxation techniques and keep at it, you will soon be able to drop off on a regular basis. Also, many people are sleeping even though they believe they are awake.

Making napping a priority. Don't think that a soda or snack will perk you up and help you get something done. In fact, snacking is just another sign that your body needs sleep. Researchers have found that learning after a nap is equal to learning after a full night's sleep. Test scores of non-nappers were found to drop throughout the day as they became more tired.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

(National) March 5, 2007 - Nap time can be a battle, but a nap may help your child learn.

We've all heard the statistics about the importance of sleep, but what about naps? Dr. Rebecca Gomez says, "We're finding that naps are crucial for learning."

Psychologists at the University of Arizona are studying the connection between a quick snooze and learning. Dr. Lynn Nadel talks about the research, "Our goal in general is to sort of understand how infants learn, how they acquire any knowledge whatsoever."

Dr. Gomez says, "What we found is that their learning is transformed with sleep."

In their study, 15-month-olds were exposed to an artificial language. It sounds like nonsense to adults, but Dr. Gomez, who created the language, says it's a great learning tool for infants. "We have rules like that in natural language where we have to keep track of information in the beginning of a sentence and information at the end."

The babies are exposed to the artificial language during 15 minutes of play time. Then half of the participants take a nap, the others do not. Four hours later, they're all tested to see what they've learned.

Dr. Gomez is seeing a difference in the babies who slept, "What we're finding is that sleep transforms the memory in some way so that infants can actually recognize new sentences."

The infants who didn't have a nap only recognized the words that were heard during playtime. Parents like Autumn Haworth are taking these early results to heart. "I never really understood how important naps were, um, for like the mental aspect of his learning and growth. So definitely I'm going to try not to miss his naps."

The results have prompted the doctors to do further studies on the importance of sleep in learning. For more information on the sleep study you can click here>>

Labels: nap, power naps, powernap

Here are some more nap tips.

The experience led Long, a former advertising executive turned yoga and ski instructor, to write a book for other tired women, called Permission to Nap. It was published in 2002.

But these days, just about anyone who craves a midday snooze can find plenty of encouragement. Just in time for next week's switch to daylight-saving time, which can mean a lost hour of nighttime sleep and some sleepier-than-usual days, consider the following:

•Greek adults who took regular naps were significantly less likely to die of heart disease than those who didn't in a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in February. Working men benefited most.

•Fast-living New Yorkers are paying $12 and up to nap at trendy sleep salons, the New York Times reported recently. One company, MetroNaps, sells and rents napping pods — reclining, hooded chairs equipped with dimming lights and noise-blocking headphones — to airports, hospitals and corporations.

•A psychologist who has spent her career studying naps is promoting a new book, Take a Nap: Change Your Life (Workman Publishing), which says napping is an underappreciated route to health and well-being.

"There's always time for a nap," says author Sara Mednick, a researcher at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. The payoffs, she says, can include improved alertness, memory, physical performance and mood. And the new heart disease study adds to research suggesting long-term benefits.

Mednick advocates customized nap schedules for people with various needs — including emergency workers and doctors in training who must resort to "extreme napping" at all hours. But for most folks, the tried-and-true afternoon snooze — whether you call it a power nap or a siesta — will work wonders, she says. In general, she says, naps of five to 90 minutes are best.

Mednick says such naps, taken on couches and floors and even in her car, got her through graduate school and continue to be part of her days.

For the most part, doctors who specialize in sleep applaud the idea of a napping revival.

"We all have a normal physiologic dip in alertness in the afternoon. Our bodies are inviting us to sleep at that time," says Michael Sateia, professor of psychiatry and chief of sleep medicine at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H. "Millions of people have, for centuries, tapped into this."

Joseph Ojile, managing director of the Clayton Sleep Institute in St. Louis, says: "Sometimes going with biology is a very healthy thing to do."

But, the doctors caution, not everyone should nap — at least without talking to a physician first. People who have chronic insomnia — trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or awaking rested — might make their problems worse by sleeping during the day, they say.

Sateia notes that most true insomniacs are lousy nappers, anyway: They are conditioned to become alert when they try to sleep, no matter what time it is or how tired they are. (The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has tips for people who have trouble sleeping at www.sleepeducation.com/Hygiene.aspx.)

Excessive napping can signal other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea (interrupted breathing that disturbs sleep and leaves people exhausted), Sateia adds.

In any case, healthy adults whose schedules allow it should be doing most of their sleeping — about eight hours — at night, the experts agree. "We don't want people sleeping four or five hours a night and trying to make up for that with napping," Ojile says.

But if you just need a boost before your last meetings, classes or car-pool rounds? Permission granted.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

Here is part of an article from someone who has discovered the advantages of taking power naps.

...At 25, I wrote bar reviews and worked a 9-to-5 office job. I wasn't a morning person, so I started napping after dinner and getting up at 8 p.m. to go out. This is when the habit coalesced. I was no longer at my physiological peak, so my body wound down like a clock and I had to sack out to save my strength. What a luxurious and lavish form of laziness!

During big family events, I branched out with my endeavor and took to hitting the couch after the big meal. My family joked when I was the first to lie down, but I was staking my claim. Thanksgiving holds a unique kind of nap: The Tryptophan Coma.

The couch is a real innovation in napping technology. It's best to use a davenport for napping instead of say, a bed of spikes, a futon or a large, jagged rock. Quilts and blankets are also better than traditional bedding, shammys or newspapers.

Throw pillows and couch cushions make better head rests than standard pillows, clog shoes or avocados. If you use a regular pillow, you tend to sleep too long, and it throws your day off.

There's no designated time for a nap, but 15 minutes is a good minimum, and three hours is about as long as you can go before other people in the house begin taking vital signs.

The couch I use now is a long, blue affair with large arms at the sides. When I lie inert and watch TV like a catatonic, I rest my head on the left. When it's nap time, I downshift to the right side.

If the cat and I lie down, it's on the left with me against the back and her at the bow. I'm a heavy drooler when I sleep, so I'm glad that the cushions are stain-
resistant and that Lindsay has long hair. She makes a great sleep-bib. Lindsay's not much of a napper, but I'm bringing her around. Younger people don't have the moxie for this sport.

Cats are professionals when it comes to napping, and should be studied and dissected so that future generations can unlock better advancements in napping.

You can't take a running start into a nap, either. On days off, I take a hot bath, read a bit or do something to justify the nap. After I get home from work, I throw on jeans and a T-shirt, go into the bedroom and schedule a two-hour coma.

I'd love to expound further on the subject, but the tub and the couch are calling. If anyone in this family is destined for the gold medal in the Hour And A Half Roll Onto One Side And Change Your Mind, it's me.

I'm the Jesse Owens of napping. Just look on the back of your Wheaties box. I'm the guy with the all-day bed-head.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

If you're an employee, there's good news. Power Naps increase productivity!

New research advocates napping on the job. It argues, in so many words, that snatching a few zzzzs during the workday makes ergonomic sense as a means of boosting overall productivity and safety. And other recent research suggests napping is good for the heart.

Sara Mednick, Ph.D., a research psychologist at the Salk Institute at the University of California, and Mark Ehrman have written a book about the research into napping, and it devotes some sections to detailing how to do it to best advantage. Called, “Take a Nap! Change your Life,” it talks about studies that show sleepy workers have more accidents, are less productive and are more prone to health and morale problems. It follows that any healthy way to reduce drowsiness on the job will benefit an employer – and employee – on several fronts.

Sleep and fatigue are much studied human factors. Researchers at NASA report that a nap of 26 minutes can boost performance by as much as 34 percent. And a 2006 study from the Stanford University School of Medicine found that napping resulted in improved mood, increased alertness and reduced lapses in performance among doctors and nurses.

Describing the research on her website, Dr. Mednick said it is devoted to understanding how napping can improve human performance. Using new technology such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), she can pinpoint the areas of the brain that underlie these improvements.

In an interview with the Gannett News Service in an article about the book, Dr. Mednick said that not only do American workers need to take a nap, their companies should require it. She explained that employers who provide a place for a nap will reap the rewards many times over with more creative and efficient employees.

And other recent napping research is a ringing endorsement for its health benefits.

United States and Greek researchers reported in the February 12 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine that people who regularly took siestas – defined by the researchers as napping at least three times per week for an average of at least 30 minutes – had a 37-percent lower coronary mortality than those not taking siestas.

According to United Press International, which reported on the findings, lead author Androniki Naska of University of Athens Medical School and senior author Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health looked at 23,681 individuals living in Greece who, at the beginning of the study, had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer. They followed the study participants for an average of 6.3 years.

Siestas are common in the Mediterranean region and several Latin American countries, and those countries also tend to have low mortality rates of coronary heart disease. Attempts to link siestas and heart health scientifically, however, had produced conflicting results until the Naska-Trichopoulo study. The researchers say their is the first large prospective study of individuals who were healthy at enrollment and the first study to control for risk factors such as diet and physical activity. These research constraints helped eliminated inconsistencies.

It remains to be seen if the research can persuade employers that laziness and napping on the job are not the same.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

If you start to feel as though you're going to doze off at work, take a quick power nap to rejuvenate.

We've all had those moments: Usually sometime after lunch, we start to feel lethargic. Our limbs grow heavy and our thinking becomes fuzzy. The sounds around us grow muted, and the e-mail we're trying to read doesn't make much sense.

Then it happens -- the eyelids begin to feel like 10-pound weights and the head begins to bob.

We jerk upright as we lurch forward, hoping that no one saw us nearly fall asleep on the job. When it happens again, we grab the candy bar in our desk drawer or head for the coffee pot, looking for the jolt of caffeine needed to keep us awake and alert.

But according to sleep studies, we'd be a whole lot better off -- and so would our employers -- if we simply curled up somewhere and went to sleep for a while.

Just like when we were young and needed a nap when we became cranky, tired and unfocused, American adults need a rest period every day in order to perform their best, researchers say. But just the word "nap" is likely to stir controversy in the workplace.

"Talking about taking a nap makes people look at you like you're sleeping with the boss or selling heroin at work," says Dr. Sara C. Mednick, a researcher at the Salk Institute at the University of California, San Diego, and a nap guru. "It's like it's an unbelievably illicit experience."

Mednick says that not only do American workers need to take a nap, but their companies should require it. Studies have shown that sleepy workers have more accidents, are less productive, are more prone to health problems and have poorer morale. Companies that provide a place for workers to nap will reap the rewards many times over with more creative, happier and healthier employees who are more loyal and efficient, she says.

Still, Mednick says she knows it's very hard to convince Americans -- who believe hard work 24/7 breeds success -- that napping can have a great payoff.

"It's really a lack of foresight," she says. "People just keep working as they are, thinking that they'll have time later to deal with it. But it's like the environment, in that you have to do something now in order to affect the future in a positive way."

Mednick says that napping can "change your life," which is why she has written a book with Mark Ehrman called Take a Nap! Change your life, (Workman, $12.95) that outlines how anyone can -- and should -- incorporate napping into any lifestyle. It provides useful tips on napping, including finding the ideal nap time and duration for you. Some ideas from the book include:

You must be your own sleep therapist. That means you have to understand when, where and how you best can take a nap. Maybe it's in your car at lunch, maybe it's on a mat in a quiet room or maybe it's putting your feet on your desk. You may need to nap only five minutes, or you may require more than an hour, depending on your own body clock.

Napping takes practice. Stress might indeed keep you awake when you first try to nap, but chances are that if you practice relaxation techniques and keep at it, you will soon be able to drop off on a regular basis. Also, many people are sleeping even though they believe they are awake.

Making napping a priority. Don't think that a soda or snack will perk you up and help you get something done. In fact, snacking is just another sign that your body needs sleep. Researchers have found that learning after a nap is equal to learning after a full night's sleep. Test scores of non-nappers were found to drop throughout the day as they became more tired.

Throw out your preconceived notions of napping. Scientists have shown that you get sleepy after lunch no matter what you eat; you are groggy after a nap not because of the nap, but because you need more sleep; and the sleep you get from a nap is just as beneficial as the sleep you get at night.

"I'm not saying you should risk your job in order to take a nap, but I do think that as more of these studies about sleep come out, you're going to see more companies let employees take a nap," Mednick says. "I think it's going to start to sink in how important it is."

Anita Bruzzese is author of "45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy . . . and How to Avoid Them," (www.45things.com). Write to her c/o: Business Editor, Gannett News Service, 7950 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, Va. 22107. For a reply, include a SASE.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap