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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to take the occasional nap

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Speaker 1: during the day and why you should consider doing it.

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Speaker 1: I'm writing the script for this episode right after waking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: made 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: The 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: verse being jittery and sleep deprived. Of course, this mid

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: true 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 a nap, 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 be to take a nap in your car. If

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: minutes 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 work day, I'd love to hear about it.

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Speaker 1: You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast that I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four then Breakfast

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Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at I Heart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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