I read a great article by Tony Schwartz in the Harvard Business review about why companies should insist on their employees napping in the workplace.  Those of you that know me well can imagine my delight!

I have been napping consistently for about 4 years now.  I make it a point to trade my lunches for a nap in the middle of the day, and I can’t feel better about it.  In fact, it’s gotten so routine that I don’t really even need to look at the clock to know that it’s nap time.

Anyway, the short of the story is that I can’t say enough in the way of good things about it.  I feel like I get two days for the price of one.  (As someone who starts working at between 4:30am and 6am, I sort of do.)  I don’t have any afternoon slumps to deal with.  I am able to be high-intensity the whole day.  I also feel much better when I get home in the evenings.  Instead of just wanting to veg out and do nothing, I at least have the energy to read interesting books and articles.

Anyway, over the years, I have gotten various levels of pushback and scepticism about my napping.  I’ve responded with a simple rule: “I don’t pretend to know enough about everyone else to prescribe what they should do to perform their best, but I support their decisions, provided they are within reason.”  I believe that we are all adults here (at the workplace), and that we can each figure out what is best for us.  I expect the same respect from others in the workplace.

So I never really tried to convince folks that napping is for them too.  Mostly because I don’t know if it will work for other folks as well as it does for me.  I also don’t want to come across as the crazy ‘nap pusher.’

But upon reading Tony’s article, I have to say that there is some really compelling evidence out there to support napping.  The research seems to align with the feelings I have gotten from napping, so it seems that at least some people out there get positive benefits too.

I suggest you read Tony’s article .. I won’t spoil it for you!