okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The 20 minute nap
Mary introduced me to the 20 minute nap. One summer when she was in college, Mary worked at a sleep lab. Among other things, she learned about the value of the 20 minute nap. Apparently 20 minutes is just about the perfect amount of time for a nap. If you sleep much longer, you often wake up feeling sleepy rather than refreshed. If you sleep much less, well you don't really get any rest.
The sailboat racer, Ellen MacArthur, takes lots of short naps when she races. You can read about her napping in a BBC article and at Outside Online.