Power Sleep by David J. Axelrod

Author:David J. Axelrod [Maas, James B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-81944-4
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1998-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

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ADVICE FOR PARENTS OF NEWBORNS

Exhausted parents of newborns should take naps when their infants nap. Don’t try to use the free time to catch up on household chores or work if you’re already seriously sleep-deprived. A well-rested caregiver is a better caregiver.

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CAN YOU GET THE NOD AT WORK?

The notion of sleeping on the job isn’t very well received by industry. Companies equate napping with laziness, and lazy or not, you might get chastised or even fired if you’re caught trying to catch a few winks. But the fact is that today nearly everyone is sleep-deprived, and sleepy workers are irritable, are likely to make mistakes and cause accidents, and are more susceptible to heart attacks and gastrointestinal disorders. That costs money and disrupts lives.

For hundreds of years in Latin America and in Europe, everyone quit work for a couple of hours in the mid-afternoon and went home for a refreshing nap. However, siestas are becoming a thing of the past. As countries become more industrialized and transportation to and from work more congested, the siesta has all but disappeared. Too bad. Time for a change!

A coffee or cola break, perceived as a legitimate part of the work day, does provide momentary feelings of alertness. But consumption of caffeine will be followed by feelings of lethargy and reduced REM sleep that night. A debt in your sleep bank account, the cause of midday sleepiness, is not reduced by these artificial stimulants. Why not attack the problem directly and get some needed sleep? We must strive to recognize brief naps as legitimate, and much more valuable than coffee breaks.

The corporate culture will gradually change as information on the tremendous costs of sleep deprivation, and on the biphasic pattern of natural sleep, become more widespread. Accepting the concept of napping will reduce errors and accidents, raise job satisfaction, reduce illness, and ultimately improve the bottom line. What companies lose in time they can make up in increased productivity. It’s a win-win situation that should make sense to everyone.

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