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A Yawning Gap From Awake To Z Wake Up, America!

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By CORRIE BENFIELD, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2007

The presents are wrapped. The kids are wound up. The decorations are everywhere. And you are wiped out.

Unfortunately, your boss won't accept that as an excuse for you holding nap-time under your desk.

However, if U.S. employers were willing to look past the stigma of sleeping at work, they would find that naps can improve reaction times, productivity, alertness, mood, coordination and short-term memory in tired workers, according to the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation.

They would also save more than $150 million a year in costs associated with fatigue-related accidents, says Sara C. Mednick, author of "Take a Nap! Change Your Life." Not a bad trade for 20 minutes of sleep.

So, to help you persuade your employer to implement a nap time, we've compiled a list of facts for them to sleep on.

Appeal to their desire to be the best: Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were known to have kept themselves sharp with afternoon naps.

Appeal to their desire for increased productivity: Studies by NASA have shown that alertness increases as much as 100 percent after a short nap.

Appeal to their desire to cut costs: Workers' compensation claims are four times higher at places where napping is not allowed, according to a 2004 survey by Circadian Technologies, a consulting firm.

If all else fails, use logic: The circadian rhythm (the body's 24-hour cycle) and the homeostatic cycle (which measures time spent awake) converge in a resting phase about seven hours after a person wakes up, according to a recent article by The New York Times. That would be about 2 p.m. for a worker who wakes up at 7 a.m.

EYES OPEN

Until you gain permission to power nap at work, here are some tips to maintain productivity:

•Get a good night's sleep. That means about eight hours a night for most adults.

•Get up at the same time every morning.

•If you feel tired, get up and move around the room.

•Work on tasks that require the most creativity and focus when you feel most awake. When you are tired, switch to more mundane tasks.

Sources: The New York Times, American Psychological Association

EYES SHUT

If you do win the right to nap, the National Sleep Foundation suggests you try to find:

THE RIGHT LENGTH -- A 20- to 30-minute nap improves alertness and

performance without leaving you groggy or interfering with your sleep at night.

THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT -- Find a restful place to lie down. Make sure the temperature in the room is comfortable. Limit the noise and light filtering in.

THE RIGHT TIME -- If you take a nap too late in the day, it might be difficult to fall asleep at night. If you try to take it too early in the day, your body may not be ready for sleep.

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