At first I thought by "nap" you meant the shine or "run" of a piece of material. Then I realised you meant "short sleep".
It is quite an interesting article, but there has been something of a revival of the "power nap" concept in the past year or two. I've seen it suggested in several business articles, etc -- but have not seen anyone actually having one. I think the idea is you can put in your 16-hour day more easily if you aren't embarrassed to have a 10-min snooze in the middle of it.
The siesta is alive and well on mainland Europe-- in France, Spain, Italy etc everything closes for 2 or 3 hours in the middle of the day and then re-opens later on. But the article you link to is pretty america-centric: although it alludes to this, Europe is as usual in the american media presented as "funny little munchkin land" (if they know about it at all) rather than as part of the civilised world (i.e. America).
This is an interesting article, but the masterpiece on the subject is Joseph Epstein's "The Art of the Nap," in his collection of familiar essays, _Narcissus Leaves the Pool_.
You will most assuredly be laughing aloud as you read. One of my favorite bits is Epstein musing about his stints as a professor:
"I don't say that they drift off in droves, but I have -- how to put it? -- relaxed a respectable number of students in my time. At first I found myself resenting a student falling asleep in one of my classes. But I long ago ceased taking it personally. I have come to look upon it avuncularly: poor dears, they may have been up all the previous night doing I prefer not to think what. My view of students sleeping in my classes is that, what the hell, if they cannot arise from my teaching inspired, let them at least awake refreshed."
The entire collection is delightful -- if you dig personal essays, Epstein is the go-to guy in the U.S.
At first I thought by "nap" you meant the shine or "run" of a piece of material. Then I realised you meant "short sleep".
ReplyDeleteIt is quite an interesting article, but there has been something of a revival of the "power nap" concept in the past year or two. I've seen it suggested in several business articles, etc -- but have not seen anyone actually having one. I think the idea is you can put in your 16-hour day more easily if you aren't embarrassed to have a 10-min snooze in the middle of it.
The siesta is alive and well on mainland Europe-- in France, Spain, Italy etc everything closes for 2 or 3 hours in the middle of the day and then re-opens later on. But the article you link to is pretty america-centric: although it alludes to this, Europe is as usual in the american media presented as "funny little munchkin land" (if they know about it at all) rather than as part of the civilised world (i.e. America).
This is an interesting article, but the masterpiece on the subject is Joseph Epstein's "The Art of the Nap," in his collection of familiar essays, _Narcissus Leaves the Pool_.
ReplyDeleteYou will most assuredly be laughing aloud as you read. One of my favorite bits is Epstein musing about his stints as a professor:
"I don't say that they drift off in droves, but I have -- how to put it? -- relaxed a respectable number of students in my time. At first I found myself resenting a student falling asleep in one of my classes. But I long ago ceased taking it personally. I have come to look upon it avuncularly: poor dears, they may have been up all the previous night doing I prefer not to think what. My view of students sleeping in my classes is that, what the hell, if they cannot arise from my teaching inspired, let them at least awake refreshed."
The entire collection is delightful -- if you dig personal essays, Epstein is the go-to guy in the U.S.