The Practical Napper Book Review

The Practical Napper, by Jennifer Eyre White, is a humorous guide to the importance of taking naps. It is a quick, easy read that provides facts from research and sleep studies, as well as tips to getting the most out of your nap time. It also has quotes from many well known people.

The book gives a positive outlook on the act of napping, and relates well to the reader. It ranges from tips on how and when to nap to what napping can do for you in the long run. White also talks to parents with newborns and what they can do to get some sleep in their otherwise sleep deprived lives.

The Practical Napper has something for everyone. It grabs the attention of the reader with pictures and short, snappy writing. By using quotes, it shows that many people, even if they don’t know the medical facts, know the value of a nap. White includes this quote from Earnest Hemingway in which he says, “I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” Overall, the book was fun, enjoyable and makes the case for taking naps even stronger!

In the vein of fun books, the AASM has just published two children’s picture books about sleeping. They are wonderful ways to introduce your child to the importance of sleep. For information on how to purchase them, click here.

Photo by Maria Pons

Energy Pods let Google Employees Snooze in Style

Here’s one big reason why Google is consistently near the top of every annual “Best Companies to Work For” list. Among the many well-documented perks of working for Google is the leeway to step away from the desk and take a nap. Google stands out from the other companies with nap rooms by offering a stylistically futuristic sleep pod right out of the show Caprica.

That oversized salon hair dryer you see above is a state-of-the-art Energy Pod made by Metronaps. The reclining bed underneath the big white visor looks a lot like a dental chair.

Features include a built-in music player that produces soothing sounds and an alarm that wakes users up with a gentle combination of lights and vibration.

The Metronaps Energy Pod retails for around $8,000 - no small price, but still less expensive than ludicrously priced European luxury beds.

Google’s solution to workplace fatigue appears to be a preferable alternative to lunchtime car naps or sneaky catnaps in the bathroom stalls. It’s good to see the world’s most influential tech firm notice the building scientific evidence of the performance benefits of napping. Now if only more companies would adopt this practice maybe we’ll all stop looking down on workplace naps... I’m looking at you Ken Griffey Jr.

Student Sleeps Through Obama Keynote Speech

Normally the Sleepeducation blog avoids subjects related to politics, but this viral video from a Monday high school graduation ceremony in Kalamazoo, Mich. is too good to pass up.

A student seated behind President Barack Obama was caught on camera falling asleep during his keynote speech.

The video, above, comes courtesy of WOOD-TV8, who broadcasted the event live Monday.

The boy seated at the upper right hand corner of the screen began yawning, struggling to stay alert. Then he leans back, appearing to doze off, until he's awoken by the crowd's applause.

Moments later, he's hunched forward, fully asleep.

Aged baseball greats Griffey, Hernandez caught napping at games

Once upon a time Ken Griffey Jr. electrified baseball fans, launching home runs at a record clip, while roaming center field in Seattle’s Kingdome. Fast forward to May 2010, Junior is back in a Mariners uniform, about to nap his way out of baseball.

At 40 years old chronic injuries have stripped him of his gold-glove caliber defensive skills, so the M’s have him penciled in as Designated Hitter most games. You can find him sitting, waiting in the dugout or team clubhouse for his 4-5 at-bats per game.

When it was his turn to bat Saturday, Griffey was nowhere to be found. The News Tribune of Tacoma reports he was sound asleep in his chair in the clubhouse.

An unnamed player told the newspaper, “He’d gone back about the fifth inning to get a jacket and didn’t come back.”

Another Mariner said to the same reporter, "He doesn't sleep well at night, he's away from his family; he's comfortable in the clubhouse."

Some are questioning the credibility of the story’s author, for citing unnamed players in the report. Griffey was in the starting lineup for the Mariners the following game.

Other news outlets are reporting the Mariner’s are preparing to cut Griffey. He may be the organization’s most celebrated player, but he’s no longer productive. He was hitting .208 through Sunday.

The clubhouse nap would be an obvious factor, if it happened.

Griffey isn’t the only big name in Major League Baseball who couldn’t stay awake an entire game Saturday.

The Met’s Keith Hernandez was busted dozing off in the announcer’s booth in extra innings against the Giants.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mr. Hernandez has had better days.

It remains to be seen if either Griffey or Hernandez have some kind of sleeping disorder, were out late burning the midnight oil Friday or were simply bored by baseball.
Let’s admit it, neither the Mets nor the Mariners are all that good this year.

Image courtesy ICCSPORTS

Frequent Naps & Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults

A new study examined the relationship between napping and type 2 diabetes in older Chinese adults. The results were published yesterday in the journal Sleep.

The study involved 19,567 people in China between the ages of 50 and 93 years. About 71 percent of participants were women.

They received a physical exam. They also answered questions about their lifestyle and medical history. This included questions about their napping habits and daytime sleepiness.

Results show that 13.5 percent of the sample had type 2 diabetes. The rate of diabetes was 36 percent higher in people who reported napping four to six times per week. It was 28 percent higher in people who napped daily.

The results were unchanged when people with potential ill health and daytime sleepiness were removed from the analysis. This suggests that it is less likely that diabetes leads to daytime sleepiness. Instead the results raise the possibility that napping may increase the risk of diabetes.

But more research is needed to determine if napping plays a causative role in the development of diabetes. Many other factors may be involved in older adults.

“In many non-Mediterranean, Western countries a large proportion of those that nap are generally older or have other conditions that cause tiredness and create an urge to nap,” lead author Neil Thomas told the AASM. “The napping can therefore be a marker of disease.”

According to the authors, napping is a social norm in China. It is practiced at all ages starting in childhood. At least one nap per week was reported by 67 percent of participants. About 59 percent of these people reported napping daily.

The authors also noted that napping and diabetes were associated even though physical activity levels were higher in nappers. Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Read more about naps and sleep and type 2 diabetes.

Image by Nomad Tales

Caffeine & the Night Shift

A recent study examined the effect that consuming caffeine at night may have on daytime sleep.

The sleep of participants was monitored during a night in a sleep lab. Then they stayed awake in the lab for 25 hours. While awake they were given caffeine capsules. Then their sleep was monitored again as they slept during the day.

Results show that daytime sleep was worse after taking caffeine. Measures such as sleep efficiency and sleep duration were lower.

So does this mean that people who work the night shift should avoid caffeine? Not necessarily.

The participants were given caffeine late during the night. They took a 100-mg dose three hours before attempting to sleep during the day; they were given another 100-mg dose only one hour before daytime sleep.

The stimulating effect of caffeine can last for hours. So it’s no surprise that their sleep was affected.

But an AASM task force report concluded that your sleep is unlikely to be disrupted if you take caffeine at least eight hours earlier. And other studies show that caffeine helps improve the performance and alertness of night-shift workers.

A study in the journal Sleep in 2006 found that combining caffeine with an evening nap provided the greatest benefit. Before a simulated night shift, participants were given a nap opportunity at 7:30 p.m. Their average nap duration ranged from 73 to 99 minutes.

At about 10:30 p.m. they were given 4 mg/kg of caffeine. The authors reported that this dose has been shown to be effective without interfering with daytime sleep.

A 4 mg/kg dose means that you take 4 mg of caffeine for each kg of body weight. So the dose would be about 272 mg if you weigh 150 pounds, 318 mg if you weigh 175 pounds, and 363 mg if you weigh 200 pounds.

A second part of the study involved actual night-shift workers who took 300 mg of caffeine at the start of each night shift. It also found that caffeine and napping improved performance and reduced sleepiness.

On Tuesday the Sleep Education Blog reported that another option for night-shift workers is to follow a “compromise” sleep schedule.

Read about sleep & caffeine on SleepEducation.com to find out how much caffeine is in your coffee, soda or tea. Learn about shift work sleep disorder.

Having an Afternoon Energy Slump? Take a Nap!

Do you find yourself feeling sleepy after lunch? If the answer is yes, you are not alone.

A recent article in the News and Sentinel reports that humans’ natural circadian rhythm includes a decrease in energy in the afternoon.

Dr. Barry Louden, a board-certified sleep medicine physician, told the News and Sentinel that in addition to our natural energy decrease, many of us are tired in the afternoons because we are constantly sleep deprived. Work, family obligations and lifestyle choices often come before sleep on the list of priorities.

Even when we do try to get the sleep we need, sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

Is a nap the solution for an occasional sleepless night?

An article published recently in the Guardian makes the case.

The story says that napping for different amounts of time provides different benefits. A 20-minute nap consists mostly of stage 2 sleep, which improves alertness, concentration, mood, and motor skills. Naps of up to 45 minutes may include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which enhances creative thinking and information processing. Naps of 90 to 120 minutes usually include all sleep stages, which helps to clear your mind, improve memory recall, and lower your sleep debt.

Although a nap can help you make it through the day, it can not replace a full night’s sleep.

You might not feel the affects right away; but just one day of poor sleep can have negative consequences. People who aren’t getting enough sleep are at higher risk for serious long and short-term medical problems. Last week, the Sleep Education Blog reported that people who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to get sick.

The AASM recommends that adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep each night.

Sleep is for the Dogs

It’s Labor Day, so it’s a good time to catch up on some sleep. Maybe you can find an unoccupied room where you can sneak away for a nap.

If you need inspiration, you can check out the photos of these dogs. Visitors to LATimes.com caught their dogs napping everywhere from the shower stall to the flower pot.

Does your dog have a serious case of daytime sleepiness? If so, maybe it’s because of your sleep apnea.

A recent post on the Sleep Better Blog by AASM spokesperson Dr. Lisa Shives tells of a patient with severe obstructive sleep apnea. Often his dog would paw at him and wake him up during the night.

But now he is using CPAP therapy to treat his sleep apnea. The result? He and his wife – and even their dog – are all sleeping better.

Of course, there is one dog that may not be sleeping well today. Bizkit the Sleep Walking Dog would like to remind you that dogs can have sleep problems too.

Image by Cristiano Baro

REM Sleep Enhances Creativity

A new study reports that rapid eye movement sleep – or “REM sleep” – enhances creative problem solving.

Participants completed a creativity task in the morning. Afterward, some took a nap that included REM sleep; some took a nap without REM sleep; and some simply rested quietly. Then they were tested on the creativity task in the afternoon.

Results show that REM sleep enhanced the integration of unassociated information for creative problem solving. Members of the REM sleep group improved their performance on the creativity task by almost 40 percent. There was no performance improvement for members of the other two groups.

“We found that – for creative problems that you’ve already been working on – the passage of time is enough to find solutions,” study author Sara Mednick, PhD, said in a UCSD statement. “However, for new problems, only REM sleep enhances creativity.”

The AASM reports that there are multiple stages of sleep in a sleep cycle. Each complete cycle lasts about 90 to 110 minutes. REM sleep tends to be the final stage of the sleep cycle in normal adult sleep.

Learn more about REM sleep and sleep stages on SleepEducation.com.

Tension Headaches, Naps and Insomnia

Maybe it’s not such a good idea to take a nap when you have a headache.

A new study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows there may be a link between headaches, naps and insomnia.

The study involved 32 women who have tension headaches. Their average age was about 22 years. Ninety-four percent of the women reported that stress was a trigger of their headaches.

Eighty-one percent of the women reported using sleep as a coping strategy for headaches. This made sleep the number one self-management strategy.

Sleep also was rated as the most effective intervention. Other common self-treatment methods were:

• Medications
• Relaxation
• Distraction
• Hot or cold compress

So is sleep the best treatment for tension headaches? Not exactly. Fifty-six percent of the women also reported that sleep problems are a trigger of their headaches.

“Insomnia is a common complaint among headache sufferers,” said principal investigator Jason C. Ong, PhD. “While napping may relieve pain, it may also result in poor sleep hygiene, thus triggering sleep disturbance or perpetuating an insomnia episode.”

So taking a nap may provide immediate headache relief. But the daytime sleep may cause you to be more alert that night.

This may lead to an episode of insomnia. Then the insomnia could trigger another tension headache the following day. To break this cycle, practice good sleep hygiene and limit the use of naps as a headache treatment.

The NINDS recommends other treatment options. These include therapies that help you manage stress or relax your muscles. You may want to take a hot shower or apply moist heat to the back of the neck. A massage or gentle neck exercises also may be helpful.

Sleep, Caffeine & the Starbucks Effect

Bloomberg.com reports that Starbucks stores are going to stop the continuous brewing of decaf coffee after 12 p.m. The move is part of an effort to save $400 million by September.

You’ll still be able to request a decaf coffee in the afternoon. But you’ll have to wait about four minutes for brewing time. The company reports that demand for decaf coffee in some of its stores tends to drop after noon.

This is likely due to the timing of the body’s sleep-wake pattern. A natural “dip” in alertness tends to occur in the afternoon. So it is tempting to rely on caffeine in the afternoon to fight off sleepiness.

Caffeine is a drug that is a quick-acting stimulant. It reaches a peak level in your blood in 30 to 60 minutes. But it also can stay in your system for hours. This may cause problems when you try to go to sleep at night.

A new review looked at studies of how caffeine affects your sleep. One study shows that people who don’t consume caffeine may sleep longer and have a better quality of sleep. Another study found that people may have less trouble falling asleep on days when they drink decaf coffee.

Choosing decaf is still likely to give you a small dose of caffeine. A study found that a Starbucks decaf espresso may have 3 mg to 15.8 mg of caffeine. A 16-ounce serving of a Starbucks decaf brewed coffee may have 12 mg to 13.4 mg of caffeine.

In contrast, Starbucks reports that a regular espresso may have about 75 mg of caffeine. But it’s the 16-ounce, “grande”-size Starbucks coffee that really tips the scales. It may have 330 mg of caffeine. Another study shows that this is the same caffeine content as six, 12-ounce cans of Mountain Dew. It’s also the same as two cans of an energy drink like No Fear.

Starbucks also reports that actual caffeine content can vary greatly. That’s exactly what another study found. Researchers bought a 16-oz cup of the same type of coffee from one coffee shop for six straight days. They found that the caffeine levels ranged widely from 259 mg to 564 mg.

So in the afternoon you may want to skip the coffee and choose a drink with a lower caffeine level instead. Try a soda or a cup of brewed tea. Better yet, avoid caffeine and take a quick 20-minute nap; a study shows this may be your best option for an afternoon boost.