In Defense of Napping

Whenever I get a phone call during the day, invariably the first question usually asked is whether I was asleep or not. In fact, whenever one of my mother's friends stops over at the house, she always asks whether I was still in bed - at two o'clock in the afternoon. Yes, it is well known that I'm a napper. As a result, I experience the heavy weight from the social stigma that comes with being a napper.

But is the social stigma attached to napping warranted? Are nappers just lazy bums? According to Kurt Kleiner of the Toronto Star, the answer is no. In an article published earlier this week, The Modern World Killed Off the Nap, Kleiner explains that not only are researchers discovering that naps are entirely natural, but they are signs of a balanced life. He also notes that some of the greatest and most productive figures in history (Napoleon, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, Winston Churchill, et al.) were all nappers. I'm in good company, it seems.

But that doesn't relieve the social stigma associated with napping. With my peculiar schedule of working through the night (I was up writing until 5 am this morning before going to bed), many people have concluded that I am an unproductive bum. That may be true, but it isn't because of my sleeping habits. In fact, what I have found is that I usually get less sleep than most of my critics (those critics usually go to bed at 9pm and get up at 6am, while I rarely get more than 7 hours of sleep). And I find that I'm much more productive. When I was a working stiff (much like yourself) I would regularly see that productivity around the office would decline precipitously after lunch. Getting something done after 3pm was virtually impossible. I remedied this problem in my own life by going home during lunch and taking a nap, which usually enabled me to work into the evening long after most of my co-workers had gone home. I was also one of the last persons into the office in the morning, which meant that I avoided long traffic delays and that the office was in full gear by the time I got to work. Thankfully, all of that is behind me now.

So what is the moral of the story? Get in touch with your inner napper and enjoy a more balanced life. There are few things in this world as sweet as a post-lunch sugar coma.

I think it's time for my nap.