Need an Energy Boost? Try a Nap

During these dog days of August, it’s hard for many men to resist a traditional summertime activity. No, I don’t mean golfing, fly-fishing or hitting the beach.

I’m talking about blowing off household chores in favor of a good, long nap. For just about every guy who spends a Saturday afternoon cutting grass or cleaning out the garage, there’s another studying the backs of his eyelids, sprawled out on the sofa or slumped in a hammock. According to the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation, 44% of American men take a nap at some time during the weekend.

That means men are more avid weekend nappers than women (34%). Yet, other statistics suggest that guys should be napping even more. Consider this: Men are twice as likely as women to fall asleep at the wheel. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, accidents caused by drowsy driving result in 1,500 deaths and 40,000 injuries each year.

The high rate of male stubbornness in the face of fatigue doesn’t surprise Dr. William C. Dement, one of the nation’s leading authorities on shut-eye and the author of “The Promise of Sleep” (Delacorte Press, 1999). “Men are more likely to try and push through drowsiness,” says Dement, though it’s obviously not a trait he admires. “It’s irresponsible to allow yourself to be drowsy.”

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There should be no shame in napping; the urge to doze off in the middle of the day is utterly human. Your body is governed by an internal clock, which makes you sleepy late at night, then again in the afternoon. We may have evolved this way so that early man would hit the hay during the dark hours, then take a siesta to avoid the hot midday sun. So when your eyes roll back in their sockets after lunch, don’t blame the beef burrito you just scarfed down. You grow sleepy because you’re fighting nature by not taking a nap.

If you’re getting plenty of sleep at night, you may rarely feel the need for a nap. But if you find yourself nodding off most afternoons, it could mean you’re not getting enough rest. Or that the quality of your sack time is poor. Dement suspects that in general men may be more sleep deprived than women, in part because a greater percentage of us develop sleep apnea, a disorder that causes sufferers to stop breathing for a few seconds, hundreds of times each night. (If you’ve ever been told that you snore, you may have sleep apnea.)

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Regardless of the cause, when you start to feel logy it may be time to log off for a bit--even if it’s a quick 10 to 15 minute snooze. In fact, taking a nap when you become sleepy during the day could make you a sharper, more productive worker. Studies have shown as much, says Dement.

Of course, napping during work hours isn’t always practical--or a good career move--at most jobs. That is, unless you’re lucky enough to work for the handful of bright-eyed corporations that encourage “power napping” by providing employees with soundproof rooms equipped with comfy sofas and pillows. This napping movement is unlikely to ever find its way out of the white-collar working world. Imagine the manager of a coal mine poking his head down a shaft and hollering, “Dumbrowski! Didja take your nap yet? Get your butt up here and gimme 40 winks!”

To be sure, most people who need to catch a few Zs during the workday will require a little ingenuity. My friend Bubba lies on the floor of his office. If someone walks in, he claims his back is injured, and that stretching out is the only cure. Not everyone is fooled, he admits: “I think the drool might give me away.”

I used to fight daytime drowsiness by guzzling coffee and, since I work at home, playing loud music. Neither worked very well. Now I simply plop down on my office sofa and drift off for 20 minutes or so. I wake up a little fuzzy-headed, but find that I quickly bounce back with new focus and energy. Napping used to seem lazy; now I think of it as a productivity tool. That’s one misconception I’m glad I finally put to bed.

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Timothy Gower is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer and the author of “Staying at the Top of Your Game” (Avon Books, 1999). He can be reached by e-mail at tgower@capecod.net.

* The Healthy Man column runs monthly in Health.