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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is about how to take the occasional nap during

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Speaker 1: the day and why you should consider doing it. I'm

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Speaker 1: writing the script for this episode right after waking up

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Speaker 1: from a nap. It was a December Wednesday when I

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Speaker 1: recorded this, and I had to get up pretty early

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Speaker 1: to get to the airport and fly to Houston for

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Speaker 1: an evening speech. But since there are only a few

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Speaker 1: direct flights each day from Philadelphia, I then had several

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Speaker 1: hours in my hotel room before I actually needed to

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Speaker 1: be anywhere, so I took out my contact lenses, made

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Speaker 1: myself comfy, and settled deep into dreamland. Now, of course,

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Speaker 1: a ninety minute during the day nap isn't going to

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Speaker 1: be a regular occasion for anyone over the age of three.

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Speaker 1: Those shorter naps definitely can be, But in any case,

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Speaker 1: I recognized that I was exhausted, and I also realized

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Speaker 1: I wasn't going to get much done in that state.

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Speaker 1: Now that I'm awake, I'm far more energetic. I'm executing

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Speaker 1: swiftly on the things on my to do list that

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Speaker 1: would have been impossible without more sleep. And again, you

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Speaker 1: won't grab a ninety minute nap on an average day.

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Speaker 1: But if you've had a rough night, or a longer

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Speaker 1: season of sleep deprivation, or just really dragging through that

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Speaker 1: post lunch energy slump people experience, a twenty minute nap

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Speaker 1: might be more efficient than soldiering through with another cup

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Speaker 1: of coffee. Certainly, if you're doing any sort of dangerous

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Speaker 1: or high stakes work, you might be better off sleeping

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Speaker 1: versus being jittery and sleep deprived. Of course, this midafternoon

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Speaker 1: slump tends to hit when people are at work, and

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Speaker 1: the phrase sleeping on the job sounds so terrible like

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Speaker 1: you've given up that there's a huge stigma about taking

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Speaker 1: a short nap if anyone can see you. I really

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Speaker 1: wish this weren't the case, but it's probably still true

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Speaker 1: most places, so you may need to think this through.

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Speaker 1: One reason to negotiate the ability to work from home

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Speaker 1: occasionally is if you do go through a rough patch

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Speaker 1: with sleep, it's nice to be able to recognize that

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Speaker 1: you are going through this work from home and take

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Speaker 1: a midday nap without it being a big deal. If

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Speaker 1: you're in an office, with a door, well shut the door.

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Speaker 1: I've read the advice various places to find an empty

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Speaker 1: conference room for an app but I know I never

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Speaker 1: sleep well if I worry someone's going to pop in,

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Speaker 1: so in an open plan office, your best bet might

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Speaker 1: actually to take a nap in your car. If you've

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Speaker 1: got a scheduled lunch break or mid afternoon break, or

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Speaker 1: just a break between meetings, head out there. You can

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Speaker 1: keep a blanket and a pillow in the trunk, or

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Speaker 1: use one of those little neck pillows that people sometimes

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Speaker 1: use on airplanes. That could work for sitting in the

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Speaker 1: front seat, though if you're on the smaller side, you

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Speaker 1: could try partially lying down in the back eat too.

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Speaker 1: It won't be the best sleep ever, but it will

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Speaker 1: be something. And here's a real hack for making a

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Speaker 1: short nap work. If you tend to wake up groggy,

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Speaker 1: you might naturally grab a cup of coffee, say half

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Speaker 1: caffeinated afterwards to speed the wake up process. But caffeine

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Speaker 1: takes a little while to get into your system, and

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Speaker 1: that means if you'd like to take a short twenty

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Speaker 1: minute nap, you might be best off having half a

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Speaker 1: cup of coffee prior to your nap. Then you go

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Speaker 1: lie down and you naturally pop up after twenty minutes

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Speaker 1: feeling far more alert. And if you are in management,

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Speaker 1: here's a request let team members know that if they

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Speaker 1: do need a short nap, there's no judgment. If someone

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Speaker 1: starts sleeping for four out of every eight hours on

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Speaker 1: the job, well that's a different matter and you'll need

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Speaker 1: to deal with that. But people waste twenty minutes all

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Speaker 1: the time at work doing things that don't energize them,

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Speaker 1: like perusing social media. Better to do something that will

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Speaker 1: actually make them more productive afterwards. If you've ever successfully

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Speaker 1: napped during the workday, I'd love to hear about it.

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Speaker 1: You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then breakfast pod. You

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Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast

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Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters, Thanks so much. Should I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.