Giving new meaning to the power nap

By Ben Hillyer (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, July 31, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I need a nap.

This 41-year-old body tries to keep up with the urgent demands of a two-month-old baby. Yet the diaper changes, the crying and the early morning walks coupled with the everyday demands of work and home are taking its toll.

If I sit too long in front of the computer and let my eyelids lower ever so slightly, I catch myself fading into Z-land.

Then that sudden jolt of adrenaline shocks the body back to consciousness causing me to say. “Man, I need a nap.”

I am glad I am not alone. According to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Center for Research and Development, 34 percent of Americans take a nap on a typical day. For men over age 50, the popularity of napping rises to 41 percent.

But if you think napping is left to only grumpy old men and cranky old dads, you’d be wrong. Single people are just likely to catch 40 winks as married people; so do parents, childless adults and empty nesters.

And just because you live in the lazy South, don’t think for a moment the Land of Dixie has a monopoly on the Land of Nod. No. Napping encompasses all regions of the country. According to the survey, napping is equally shared by those living in the city, the suburbs and the countryside.

The survey revealed that napping occurs at all income levels, but is most popular among people earning less than $30,000 a year and more than $100,000 a year. People earning between $75,000 and $99,000 evidently are too busy to nap — only 21 percent of them did so.

And it happens at home and in the workplace. In fact, napping has become such a new buzzword in corporations, that it has become the new coffee break. From massage parlors and relaxation rooms at Google and Nike to policies like the one at Pizza Hut, where employees are allowed to nap on their breaks, companies are promoting the benefits of a mid-day snooze.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, napping for as little as 20 or 30 minutes can “improve mood, alertness and performance.” A recent Harvard study discovered that naps have the potential to increase memory performance and lower blood pressure.

But you don’t have to give me a masseuse or some fancy relaxation room. I’m not picky. A horizontal surface on which to lay my head and just a little mood lighting will do the trick for me.

A supervisor I worked under in the 90s at a 200-man architecture firm used his lunch break every day for a quick bite to eat and a 45-minute nap each day.

As we 20-something interns slogged back into the office with our bellies full of burgers and fries, he would be stretching out of his slumber rejuvenated, ready for success. I remember being ready, well, for a nap.

Even though it may be popular in some of the country’s up-and-coming, youth-oriented corporations, napping is still stigmatized as a sign of illness or laziness in the workplace.

Still, sleep experts tout the benefits of a quick nap, equating it with regular exercise.

And if the short list of past nappers is any indication, an afternoon siesta could be on the road to success. According to the National Sleep Foundation, such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan all touted the importance of a quick snooze.

Sounds like I might need to take a nap.

ben hillyer is the Web editor for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.