Take a nap

Latest Rule to live by: Take a nap. Reminded of the importance of napping when reading NYTimes this morning, the What's Offline piece in the Business section. Today's theme is "How to be Smarter" and one of the ways to be smarter is to take a nap after lunch. According to this article,

Previous research has shown that sleep improves memory, and “now Olaf Lahl of the University of Düsseldorf in Germany and his colleagues have struck a blow for power napping.” Their work shows that falling asleep for as little as six minutes is enough to “significantly enhance memory.”

Of course in many ways we're still in the Neanderthal mode in the workplace where if you're not at your desk doing something you're not being productive. This too shall pass. Apparently some companies, such as Nike and Deloitte Consulting, are encouraging their workers to take a brief nap.

There was an article in the New Yorker from June 2007 about the folks at Workman Publishing setting up a nap program at their offices after they published Take a Nap! Change Your Life by Sara Mednick. Businessweek magazine interviewed her back in November 2006 about the benefits of taking a nap in the middle of the day. She says the ideal nap is 20 minutes long and takes place after lunch, some time between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

I'm curious to find out if the Workman folks are still napping. Note to self: call them and find out if naps are still on the to-do list.