It’s certainly not something I let my neighbors in on.  I think my sister knows…. My dad occasionally drops in at ‘inopportune’ times in the afternoon and discovered my secret…. My friends?  I think I may have referenced the occasional Saturday afternoon indiscretion.  The inlaws?  NOT!

But, in considering outing myself publicly here, I figured, “what the hell… I’m tired of the sneaking around, the secrecy… the SHAME!

I am a napper.  If I can swing it… I’ll do it.  At about one in the afternoon, after a morning of school with the kids and lunch… I’ve about had it.  If I’ve no demands or plans for that time in the afternoon, my body, in no uncertain terms, makes clear its needs… and I search out my favourite chair… my favourite blankie… and, if they’re in the mood, a kitten or two to snuggle with… sometimes even my youngest child… and I embrace a short date with dreamland.

It is nothing short of heaven.  I lay back my head onto the cool inviting leather, curl the blanket more securely around my shoulders… and in moments, I there I am… the sweet spot:  that delicious space where you can actually feel your mind and body falling into the soft, welcome reprieve of suspended consciousness.  I often think at that moment I must be smiling.

With this immense pleasure, however, comes the feeling that I’m doing something wrong.  OK… perhaps this might even be part of the fun… but the fact is, I do feel so very alone in this indulgence.  And, while it may not be something my peers/family/friends admits to, it appears the evidence shows otherwise… I am not alone and it’s really something most bodies are yearning for at some point in the day. Bodies such as Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and John F. Kennedy, nappers all.

Rather than a sign of laziness or lethargy, napping is shown to increase alertness, productivity and performance as well as improve mood, increase reaction times and reduce accidents.  It is an effective strategy, rather than reaching for caffeine, for conquering that mid-afternoon slump in energy.  In fact, it is shown that our bodies are naturally wired to slump around two in the afternoon, and if left to our own biological clocks would naturally require- and take- a snooze at around that time of day.

Gregory Belenky, MD, Research Professor and Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University, recommends naps as a way to make up for lost nighttime sleep. He says, “The beauty of naps is that they add to total recuperative sleep time,” adding that “A large number of the world’s people divide their sleep into two blocks (with the afternoon sleep called a siesta in Spanish-speaking countries). It is even possible that divided sleep is more recuperative than sleep taken in a single block.”

My only problem I suppose, in light of the research, is that my snoozes tend to be a tad long. I’m aware of it, as after forty minutes or so, I need some time to get things back up and running.  The ideal nap time tends to be only about ten minutes, where you’re rested but not groggy.  I’ll consider that this afternoon, as I’m drifting off into the sweet surrender… but, in all honesty, I can’t see pulling the plug after only ten minutes…. between chair, blankie, kittens, and perhaps youngest child… it just isn’t enough sweetness…..