It's Not A Nap, It's A Performance-Enhancing Period of Limited Awareness

Newsweek's Dr. Harvey Simon points out the benefits of a short midafternoon nap:

Federal researchers studied 200 airline flight crews that each conducted eight 9-hour transpacific flights during a span of 12 days. Half the crews stayed awake as usual, while the others took 40-minute naps in rotation. Napping was shown to improve subsequent alertness and performance. Many studies of shift workers and other volunteers have found that a nap as brief as 20 minutes can improve alertness, psychomotor performance and mood.

Dr. Sara Mednick of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies told Men's Journal that the benefits go further, aiding heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair. Her MRI research has shown that "brain activity stays high throughout the day with a nap; without one, it declines as the day wears on."

So the next time you get grief for racking out on the couch, you can explain that you're engaged in a medically-proven regimen of brain health improvement. That should work ... shouldn't it?

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Mednick has even written a book about naps (click link below to see it at Amazon):

Take Back The Nap!