In Defense of Forty Winks
I have always believed in cat-napping. I did it in college when studying for final exams and I do it today in taxis between appointments. If it’s impossible to take a "power nap" at work, I try to ensure that I make up for those missing winks the night before a big meeting. Twenty-minute cat-naps have an amazing revival effect on me. But you have to train yourself to take them. And they are vital when you have been putting in long hours.
Outstanding productivity in business depends on executives who are awake! Unfortunately, surveys show our nation is sleep-deprived. And corporations are starting to do something about it.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation costs U.S. business more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity and damage to workers health and safety.
Now, real evidence is mounting that sleep — even a nap — appears to enhance information processing and learning. New experiments by researchers at Harvard also show that a midday snooze reverses information overload. The scientists found that the brain uses a good night's sleep to consolidate the memories of habits, actions and skills learned during the day. Another study by NASA has found that a 26-minute nap increased pilots' performance by 34%.
So it wasn’t that much of a surprise to me to read in TIME magazine that some corporations are adding napping facilities for their employees.
This is a new definition of sleeping on the job!
Technorati Tags: naps, sleep deprivation
Outstanding productivity in business depends on executives who are awake! Unfortunately, surveys show our nation is sleep-deprived. And corporations are starting to do something about it.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation costs U.S. business more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity and damage to workers health and safety.
Now, real evidence is mounting that sleep — even a nap — appears to enhance information processing and learning. New experiments by researchers at Harvard also show that a midday snooze reverses information overload. The scientists found that the brain uses a good night's sleep to consolidate the memories of habits, actions and skills learned during the day. Another study by NASA has found that a 26-minute nap increased pilots' performance by 34%.
So it wasn’t that much of a surprise to me to read in TIME magazine that some corporations are adding napping facilities for their employees.
This is a new definition of sleeping on the job!
Technorati Tags: naps, sleep deprivation
posted by Ken Makovsky at 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
Okay, us power nappers need to fess up. I work long hours and rarely get more than six hours of sleep a night. A twenty minute power nap in my office saves me from snoring at client meetings. Too much of that and I would be sleeping with the fishes.
We're all in the same boat. Thanks for the endorsement.
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