by Rob Purifoy

Created on: December 09, 2008

It really is a shame that in American society we associate sleeping, even a little bit during the day, with sloth or laziness. Many of our presidents and noted historical figures swore by the afternoon nap, they said it cleared the mind and helped with decision making. Winston Churchill was quoted as saying " You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner. Don't believe that you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. You in fact will be able to accomplish more, you get two days in one-or at least one and a half".

I found this topic interesting because what we do during the otherwise working day varies widely based on what society and the geographical location in which we live. In Mexico, Spain, Germany and other areas, a Siesta is a commonplace and expected event. During the Siesta, shops close for an hour or so in the afternoon and workers are encouraged to lunch with families, what a concept huh? Germany also has a day, that may be looked upon as the same sloth and laziness, called German Beer Day on April 23rd. That's strangely not too far off from Napping day in America held in March the first Monday after daylight saving time. This of course would lead me to believe that spring is the time to make up sleep, or as it were, make up drink in some parts of the world.

As far as Napping Day goes, it was started in 1999 by Boston University professor Bill Anthony, also known as the Napmaster General. Leave it to the likes of one of the original 13 colonies to bring forth such a free thinking idea in the form of the nap. The ones that speak a self proclaimed language called "Americal" instead of English. It may take a while for this great idea to reach the bible belt and proliferate down to Texas. Although we do have Mexico with their Siesta's knocking on our south door. Let's see, I think the Alamo is about 500 miles south, I feel a Siesta coming on pretty soon.

Unfortunately, for economic reasons as well as work ethics already in place I think we'll be seeing eye to eye rather than seeing any shut eye anytime soon. Can you imagine walking into Wal-Mart at noon only to hear dead silence? The greeter looks like he just had a heart attack, but no, he's napping. The cashiers are slumped over the registers, customer service is laying in the vibrating message chairs, the pharmacists look like they dropped a hit of valium and the ladies in the clothing department are wearing night gowns? I think old Sam would be rolling in his grave.

There was a businessman I heard of around 15 years ago that thought of a similar plan to napping which also was out of the ordinary. He called for taking a 15-20 minute toilet break to relax, be alone and quite and recharge. That actually does work by the way, for the guys anyway as we can usually get away with longer stints in the "library".

All of this leads to one basic thing, we all need some form of a recharge in the middle of the day, and if you can get away with it without being fired more power to you. Hopefully one day a short relaxation period will be a part of all of our workday regimen.

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