I enjoy a good nap. I'm not afraid to admit that.
By “good nap,” I don't mean when you accidentally fall asleep sitting in your easy chair watching TV or reading a book. Catching 40 winks that way is fine, I suppose. But that's not really a nap.
A good nap is a deliberate effort, time set aside in the afternoon for a mini-snoozefest. The couch calls out to you as you begin to have what my mother called “a sinking spell.” So you get a comfy pillow and you stretch out for a few minutes of peaceful, middle-of-the-day sleep.
There are few greater joys in life than those first few minutes given over to a nap. I like the feel of total relaxation that takes over your body when you first lie down, your head on the coolness of the pillow.
A friend was complaining to me last week about her inability to get her 3-year-old to take her afternoon nap.
When the kid won't take nap, the kid gets crabby and, by extension, the mother gets crabby. On this day, the level of crabbiness was exceptionally high.
“One day,” my friend said, “she's going to wish she could take a nap every day.”
Indeed. I think a lot of adults wish they could take regular naps.
I can't take a nap during the week. My boss frowns on his employees sleeping on the job. So I look forward to the weekends. I turn on a forgettable sporting event or a bad movie and am lulled to sleep by the sound from the TV.
Sunday afternoons, after church, used to be the best time for a nap. The Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves were usually horrible and napping through most of their Sunday afternoon games was preferable to watching them play.
Now, however, both teams are pretty good, and I hate to sleep through their games, which puts a crimp in my napping time. But I usually find a way to avoid it. On weekend days, however, when I can't find time to take a nap, I end up like my friend's 3-year-old — crabby.
I used to feel guilty about enjoying naps. I thought it meant I was lazy, or that I had eaten too much at lunch, or that I wasn't getting enough exercise.
Then I read that the sinking spell my mother talked about was real. Animals — including humans — have two periods each day of intense sleepiness. One, of course, comes at night, when most of us sleep. The other comes in the middle of the afternoon, when most of us can't.
But a recent NASA study showed that people who take a 30-minute nap actually improved their brain function by almost 40 percent. Another study shows that regular naps may actually enhance our ability to learn new tasks.
Naps are also apparently good for our health. Studies show that napping may reduce the risk of death from heart disease in young, healthy men, which I like to consider I still am.
On the other hand, Thomas Edison loved to take naps, and it turns out he was a smart and productive member of society. Winston Churchill said taking a nap every afternoon made him a better leader. Leonardo da Vinci took multiple naps every day.
Seems like if it's good enough for those guys, it ought to be good enough for us. So if you'll excuse me, I feel a sinking spell coming on.
