Numerous articles and research have been done on the benefits of taking one to two short naps during the day. My definition of a nap is being sound asleep for two hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I would probably be better off taking a 10 – 30 minutes power nap every day but have failed miserably in mastering the techniques.
I know a lot of people who have perfected the art of power napping, but the “king of napping” was my friend, Rex, a teacher colleague of mine when we lived in Kansas. Rex was an outstanding career educator and enjoyed a power nap routine that I admired.
The high school had an open lunch policy so students and teachers could leave the campus from 12 – 1 p.m. Just like clockwork when the noon bell rang, Rex left the building and walked three blocks to his home, arriving about 12:10 p.m. His wife, Margaret, had lunch waiting for him. With his stomach satisfied, Rex grabbed a sofa pillow and stretched out on the hard living room floor, and within seconds, he was fast asleep “sawing wood” according to Margaret. His body was programmed to wake up at precisely 12:45 p.m. Following a brisk walk back to school, he stood at his classroom door greeting his students arriving for their 1 p.m. class. Rex was totally refreshed and recharged for his afternoon classes. He followed this routine for more than 30 years!
I’m envious when I see someone on a plane peacefully sleeping. How do they do it? I’ve taken numerous lengthy flights, many of them overseas, and no matter how desperately I need sleep, my mind just keeps racing at about the same rate of speed as the plane. Maybe if I was in business or first class, rather than shoehorned in coach, I’d be able to stretch out for a long snooze, but that is doubtful because I would be wide awake stewing about the outrageous price of the upgraded tickets. I can’t win.
Maybe if I lived in a country where afternoon siestas are the norm, I’d learn the technique. The problem is I would probably be so mentally focused on the “how to” of power napping that I wouldn’t sleep a wink.
What napping techniques have you mastered?
