Are You Out of It in the Afternoon? Take a Nap!

Are you out of it in the afternoon? Take a nap to revive your brain and improve your performance, says Arlene Weintraub.

Sleeping on the job used to be grounds for dismissal. But now, years after Cornell University psychologist James Maas coined the term "power nap," companies are beginning to embrace the practice. Today, Nike and Deloitte Consulting are among those that encourage employees to add a midday snooze to their to-do lists. Sleep scientist Sara Mednick applauds this trend. Mednick, a researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego and author of the new book Take a Nap! Change Your Life (Workman Publishing), says napping can enhance productivity.

What are the main benefits of napping?
Research on sleep deprivation shows that even at six hours a night, there are all sorts of changes in the body. Insulin rises to pre-diabetes levels. There's an increase in heart disease. Without sleep you don't learn. My research shows that people deteriorate during the day. It's difficult to sustain productivity. Naps can add back to the sleep you're deprived of at night. And a nap enhances productivity even if you have enough nocturnal sleep. Read more

Get Smarter: Take That Power Nap

A midday nap dramatically boosts your brain power, according to a California study.

It may not make you popular with your boss but a snooze in the middle of the day dramatically boosts your brain power.

Medical researchers have shown that the power naps favoured by Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Margaret Thatcher not only refresh the mind, they also make people smarter.

They found snoozing for just one hour in the day is enough to increase the brain's ability to learn new facts in the hours that follow. Read more