Napping, Napping, Gently Napping At Your Door

My crazy subject headline I added to the E mail today (I hope Edgar Allen Poe doesn't mine my paraphrase) was inspired and is not the result of my usual confusion...You see, I just read about the subject of naps, specifically whether they help people or are just a pleasure too many don't have time for. Well, a new study in Greece of adult men and women that is supposedly relevant to all ages suggests that napping may save a person from a heart attack.
That's good news, huh....if you don't first suffer from brain damage reading my stupid E mail. But anyway, the study was of 23, 681 healthy Greek men and ladies, conducted by the University of Athens Medical School. A relaxed Dr. Trichopoulos was the study leader who decided to test the subjects by having them nap several times per week for at least 20 minutes.
The conclusion was that the subjects who napped had a 37% lower risk od dying from a heart attack or other heart problems, than did the test subjects who did not nap. The hypothesis is that napping reduces stress, particularly job related stress. This was so even after factoring in diet, exercise, smoking and other habits that impact the heart.
Well, I am not sure if it means you should nap at work. After all, you probably already get plenty of sleep when reading my E mail. But would giving employees nap time (just as we let the little ones nap in kindergarten) make them more healthy and productive? What would be the cost to a business who gives afternoon nap time and would employees really nap then. Supposedly, the afternoon nap is the best one for most people.
I do try nap every day, usually before noon, but that may be the product of my lack of sleep at night. Sometimes I take two naps, but find that one shorter one is just as beneficial. And then....is there a normal sleep upturn. The great inventor Thomas Edison never slept at night. Instead he napped constantly for very short periods each day and night. It worked well for him, but I do not think most people could physically handle that routine. The fancy term for Edisons's lack of normal sleep is Polyphasic sleep....that is... a sleep pattern of only a few hours a day that is spread out into short naps of around 20-45 minutes throughout the day.
I was curious about people who nap a great deal and did research on who some of the famous ones are. Here is allots of a few of them
* Lord Byron (but some of his poetry could make anyone sleep)
* Winston Churchill- He hardly slept at night but took a long 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon.
* Paul Erdos- the math "guy" who claimed to sleep only two hours a night.
* Bruce Lee- when he wasn't doing leg kicks an karate chops Bruce was said to be doing his sleeping by napping on the set.
* Nichola Testa- The inventor was said to go as much as 70 hours without sleep, then fall into asleep that lasted the entire day.
* Leonardo da Vinci- It was said that da Vinci only slept in 15 minute naps about every two hours.
Uh...are you still awake? Never mind, it's my nap time..............