All The Smart People Are Doing It

You are not going to believe what I found today.

I discovered a book.  But not just any book.  No sir.  A book that just might change my life from this day forward.  Or at least make me feel better about myself and what I've always thought of as a lazy habit.

Check. This. Out.

Y'all.  I am not even kidding - this is an actual book!

Here's the description from Amazon:

Imagine a product that increases alertness, boosts creativity, reduces stress, improves perception, stamina, motor skills, and accuracy, enhances your sex life, helps you make better decisions, keeps you looking younger, aids in weight loss, reduces the risk of heart attack, elevates your mood, and strengthens memory. Now imagine that this product is nontoxic, has no dangerous side effects, and, best of all, is absolutely free.

This miracle drug is, in fact, nothing more than the nap: the right nap at the right time. The work of Sara C. Mednick, Ph.D., a researcher at the Salk Institute and the leading authority on the study of the nap, Take a Nap! Change Your Life. is the scientifically-based breakthrough program that shows how we can fight the fatigue epidemic—which afflicts an estimated 50 million Americans—through a custom-designed nap. 

A custom-designed nap?  Seriously??  Sign me up!  For the sake of science, of course....

I can't tell you how happy I am to have found this information!  Because my family is continually sending me little Pinterest pins like these:

All I have to say about that?  

Haters gonna hate.  (My teenagers are rolling their eyes right now...)

Here's an excerpt from the book on the most common reasons people don't take naps, besides pesky children who won't leave you alone:

"If I nap I'm being lazy."

Some of the most hardworking figures in history--national leaders, scientists, CEOs, movie stars--have used napping as a tool to get more out of each day. As demonstrated by the latest brain imaging technology, your mind is still at work even if your body is at rest.

Replace with: "Napping makes me more productive."

"I'm too busy to nap."

Just look around your office at 3 p.m. More than likely, instead of a hive of industrious activity, you'll see a bunch of bleary-eyed workers checking and rechecking their e-mail. As the great napper Winston Churchill said, "Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one… well, at least one and half." The latest scientific research has proven him correct.

Replace with: "I'm so busy, I need to nap."

"I haven't done enough to deserve a nap."

Do you deserve to eat? To breathe? No natural function--including napping!--should be regarded as a privilege. Stop cheating yourself.

Replace with: "I'm exercising my inalienable right to nap."

"I can't get anything out of a 20-minute nap, so why bother?"

You can reap benefits in as little as five minutes. Naps under 20 minutes can increase alertness, improve physical dexterity, boost stamina and lower stress. Post-lunch naps of 15 minutes have been shown in university studies to increase alertness and performance.

Replace with: "In less than 20 minutes, I will restore my alertness for the rest of the day."

So from now on, if I'm drooling in my pillow at 2 PM, I'm not being lazy.

This mama's workin' - and getting skinny, and reducing my stress, and boosting my creativity, and looking younger, and on and on it goes.

And to think, I've never liked science that much.  How wrong I've been...