Napping on the job

A half-hour of dozing can be a very good thing - physically and mentally restorative in all kinds of ways. They improve perceptual skills, motor skills, reaction time and alertness. Writing on the Harvard Business Review's blog, Tony Schwartz describes the power of naps.

I wrote at home, in the mornings, in three separate, highly focused 90 minute sessions. By the time I finished the last one, I was usually exhausted -- physically, mentally and emotionally. I ate lunch and then took a 20 to 30 minute nap on a Barcalounger chair, which I bought just for that purpose. When I awoke, I felt incredibly rejuvenated. Where I might otherwise have dragged myself through the afternoon, I was able to focus effectively on work other than writing until 7 pm or so, without feeling fatigued.

The best time for a nap is between 1 and 3 pm (that's when the body really craves a break), and the ideal length is 30 minutes or less. That avoids getting into the deeper stages of sleep, what I sometimes refer to as the "dried saliva" stage.