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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Naps: Endangered species in modern life?

TheStar.com - The modern world killed off the nap

What a bouquet of coincidence.

My Make column on napping is overdue, and yet right before dashing off to steal a rejuvenating 20-minute nap, I take a spin past del.icio.us/popular to find this little gem:

A good nap is one of life's great pleasures, and the ability to nap is the sign of a well-balanced life. When we nap we snatch back control of our day from a mechanized, clock-driven society. We set aside the urgency imposed on us by the external world and get in touch with an internal rhythm that is millions of years old.

A nap distils the sweetness of a whole night's sleep down to a few minutes. Ideally, it starts on a soft bed, in a dark room, with a warm blanket. At first your mind lingers on what you've done that day, and what you still need to do. Then your thoughts start to unravel a little, become less coherent, more dreamlike. You feel your breathing deepen, your body relax. You lose yourself; you're asleep. After a few minutes you gradually become aware again of the bed, the room. You open your eyes, gather your thoughts, throw off the blankets. You're a new person.

So nicely put. And, with that, Pzizz and I will say night night for now.

Jeff's picture

@korinthe-- "from a champion of falling...

@korinthe--

"from a champion of falling asleep right under the professor’s nose" Do you actually think that none them noticed? Just because I don't say something to the students falling asleep in class doesn't mean I don't notice. My favorite ones are the head-jerkers who are trying to keep themselves awake, but are losing the battle. Sometimes I talk a little quieter, or move to the other side of the room so I can let them fall fully asleep. Then I walk back across the room, rise my lecture to a crescendo, and bang the lectern with a triumphant thwack. Because I don't stop and never indicate it to any of the other students, the sleeper thinks he got away with something. But he also wonders what he missed that ended with a triumphant whack. The fear of missing another major point usually keeps him on his toes for a class or two.

We notice. We always notice. Sometimes, we just don't care.

 
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