Once upon a time, Camille Anthony was the finance director with
a Boston-based public relations firm. In the early afternoon, when
the Sandman would rob Anthony of her concentration, focus and
productivity, she would slip into the company president's
office and catch a few winks on the sofa. She would awaken 20
minutes later, refreshed and renewed.
"I nap a lot. I've learned it makes me much more
productive. Afternoon tasks seem much less daunting [after
napping]," admits Anthony, now president of The Napping Company, a Redding,
Massachusetts-based firm launched by Anthony and her husband,
William, author of The Art of Napping (Larson, $9.95) and
The Art of Napping at Work (Larson, $10.95). "The days
[my boss] didn't go out to lunch, I knew I was in
trouble."
Once frowned upon as a lazy worker's waste of time,
Americans--especially homebased entrepreneurs--are waking up to the
benefits of napping. The exercise, so to speak, can refresh a tired
mind, decrease irritability and boost worker productivity--which
can often drop upward of 30 percent for sleepy workers, says
Richard Gelula, executive director of the National Sleep
Foundation."People aren't always willing to talk about
their naps because of the stigma attached to it," Gelula says.
"[But] napping is tremendously restorative."
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The drowsiness that leads to napping is caused by a number of
factors. Untreated sleep disorders, a lack of nighttime sleep,
insomnia, use of sedative medications and even stress can cause
excessive sleepiness, Gelula says. Few people are getting the eight
hours nightly that science shows the average American needs, he
adds. It can be worse for homebased entrepreneurs who often work
earlier or later hours than their corporate counterparts--and whose
offices lack the constant stimulation of the phones, visitors and
e-mail found in the corporate tower.
The recurring need to nap even has a name: "excessive
daytime sleepiness." To work best, napping has to be timed
right, Anthony says. Each person has a natural circadian
rhythm--the body's internal clock that determines its peak
productivity and performance. For her part, Anthony's dips
daily at 1 p.m. So about three times a week, Anthony will slip into
bed and saw off 30 minutes--no more. Twenty minutes can restore 100
percent of alertness and function, Gelula says, and those who let a
nap go beyond an hour risk awakening sluggish and tired.
"Basically, when you're fatigued, it's a most
unproductive scenario," Anthony says. "If you take that
nap, you're going to wake up to a whole new day."
And we'll all work happily ever after. The end.
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| |  Top Tips For Napping
- Get a good
night's sleep--eight hours, on average.
- Avoid napping
longer than 45 minutes. Use an alarm or have someone call to awaken
you. Artist Salvador Dali held a silver spoon in his hand above a
silver tray on his lap. When the spoon fell from his hand and
clattered atop the tray, that was all the sleep he needed to feel
refreshed.
- Don't just lay
your head on your desk. Get comfortable so you can get quality
sleep.
- Keep a diary to
record each nap's effects: Track the start time, total time
spent napping and total hours slept the night before.
- Test out the
National Sleep Foundation's Epworth Sleepiness Scale on
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (877-BE-AWAKE) to see where you fall
on the sleepiness scale.
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Journalist and author Jeff Zbar has worked from home
since the 1980s. He writes about home business, teleworking,
marketing, communications and other SOHO issues.