Silly kids, napping is for everyone
Comments
by Sarah Austin on November 23, 2010 at 3:43 pm under Opinion
Many of us were raised on napping. Remember when our preschool teachers would make the whole class take a nap halfway through each day? Napping was not only allowed, but required. So how are we expected to grow up and get through the hectic days of work and school without it?
According to USNEWS, small businesses and large corporations are starting to realize this problem, and they have come up with a brilliant solution: naptime at work. Many workplaces are starting to give their workers permission to nap on the job. Some offices even have rooms dedicated solely to napping. A few are even filled with dim lights and soothing nature sounds. Why?
Taking a nap has been proven to give a person increased alertness, enhanced brain power and, in some cases, fewer sick days. Workers have reported increases in the amount of work they can finish in a day, as well as an improvement in their overall attitude.
Napping can even help with interpersonal conflicts: Many of the companies that have started providing naptime have noticed decreased drama and fighting in the workplace, accompanied by an increase in cooperation. However, taking a nap at work doesn’t mean you get to sleep through the day.
The naps offered at an increasing number of workplaces are not long, deep naps; they are more like power naps — long enough to give you a boost, but short enough to avoid grogginess (usually 30-40 minutes long).
The benefits of napping at work go beyond increased effectiveness. People who partake in a daily power nap are said to be 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease, according to Yahoo! Health.
The truth is a nap can make you happier and healthier. I am not saying napping is a cure-all, but it does change the way people interact with each other. We need to realize napping does not make a person lazy. In fact, it does just the opposite. Naps jumpstart your energy and motivation.
Forget about caffeine (which has more negative effects than positive), and curl up in a blanket for half an hour, instead. Our preschool teachers were right: A nap a day keeps the kids at play. So next time you feel like you’re dragging, take a break, turn off the lights, forget what your parents taught you and go for it — fall asleep on the job.
1 Comment
Hi Sarah,
Naps sound like a great idea and I am sure all of us wold love some chocolate milk right before this wonderful snooze. But I feel that we love sleeping so much that it is. We miss 8AM classes, let alone dont even register for 8AM classes because we would rather sleep in. But last time I checked, we have been conditioned since elementary school to wake up when the sun was barely rising, so we can get to our 7-8AM class in high school. I understand that it is not high school anymore and this is the great thing about college, but we all tend to forget why we are here in the first place. To have the opportunity to live the rest of our lives doing what we love and not even think of it as work, unlike our peers who decide to just work instead of continue their education. Naps are great, dont get me wrong, but I think it all goes back to time management and even right now, we are taking sleeping to its full advantage. If you truly want to be successful, you dont sleep. You stay on your grind, until you reach the ultimate success and do all that you can do. Sleep is healthy and wonderful, but some say that sleep is for weak. Then, I guess we are all weak, because those that dont sleep are the ones that we admire. For instance, music artists or even the producers behind them. All you hear about it putting in countless hours in the studio, they dont sleep. So at the end of the day, while we can appreciate sleep and even feel that we dont receive enough, it all goes back to time management. Sleep at a more decent hour than 3AM, then you would be feel more energized throughout the day. Chew some gum if it doesnt help.