True or not, I've always thought his napping kept his head full
of hair until the day he died and gave him a grip like an ironworker
-- which he was, incidentally.
There's not much opportunity to grab a nap climbing around steel
girders, but my father perfected a system of coming home, eating
supper, and grabbing a nap before settling down to watch ``I Love
Lucy.''
Then it was off to bed by 10 p.m. and up again to hit the steel
at 6 a.m.
On weekends he'd get in a nap sometime in the afternoon, usually
before supper, and I doubt he missed many days without stopping
for a siesta.
There is no family tradition that would have instilled this napping
habit in him; my father was the son of a schooner captain who
didn't tolerate idleness.
As a young man, my Dad emigrated to the United States from Newfoundland
largely because he didn't take to a life of summers at sea and
winters at mending nets. The Great Depression probably was a motivating
force as well.
On the average,
I'd say my Dad napped each evening for about 20 minutes. He could
fall asleep before his head hit the pillow.
I suppose the thought that my Dad could nap while my Mom cleaned
up from dinner wouldn't go over too well in a liberated age, but
I've come to the conclusion that his naps did wonders for his
disposition and the tensions that accompanied his job.
Americans are not a people of the siesta. There's a tendency for
our culture to associate afternoon naps with lethargy and non-productivity.
Latin Americans and some in European cultures take a much different
view. In Mexico and Greece, for example, it is customary to close
all businesses between noon and about 4 p.m. Siesta time.
Even in England, especially outside London as American tourists
discover, finding a place to eat in the late afternoon is ``nigh
unto impossible,'' as the English might say. At that time, it's
high tea or nothing.
In fact, one of
history's most famous nappers, I've learned, was Sir Winston Churchill,
who operated on the theory that a twenty-minute nap at mid-day
allowed him to press two full working days as Prime Minister into
one. Churchill was a religious nap-taker.
So, for that matter, were Charles deGaulle and Benito Mussolini,
two other World War II personalities of Europe. This proves, I
suspect, that napping is neutral when it comes to encouraging
morality and justice.
Another powerful dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte, is alleged to have
proclaimed of rest in his bed: ``I would not change it for all
the thrones in the world.''
The encouraging sign here is that Americans seem at long last
to be discovering the afternoon nap. ``Power napping'' is catching
on at Wall Street and other centers of American ingenuity.
A writer for the
National Review, one of the nation's leading conservative journals,
took note that Ronald Reagan developed the habit of taking an
afternoon nap each day of his presidency and that Bill Clinton
does not. The writer, a staunch Republican, saw evidence of proof-in-the-pudding
in this contrast.
The Mayo Clinic, in one of its newsletters, reported that ``the
urge for a mid-day snooze is built into your body's biological
clock.'' Where other cultures have incorporated this fact into
a national lifestyle, Americans have generally ignored it, the
newsletter notes.
But times may be changing. There is even an organization called
``The World Nap Organization'' that has a WWW site and touts itself
as ``An Open Society for the Advancement and Study of Napping.''
The WNO advocates not apologizing for one's tendency to nap; urges
the disregard of others' disapproval; pledges to educate members
and others on the benefits and acceptance of siestas; and encourages
original research to uncover the details of napping.
Unfortunately, that
organization is ``taking a nap for perhaps several months while
its directress pursues other interests,'' according to the group's
home page.
No matter, naps are gaining legitimacy in America, according to
a story in The Detroit News. Gerald Celente, the director of Trends
Research Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, told the News that
trends toward downsizing and working at home are reinvigorating
interest in the afternoon nap.
Celente told reporter Julie Hinds that companies will begin to
realize that napping can be a productivity booster because it
makes employees feel better.
I've heard of a company in Japan that sets up tents in business
offices, provides eyeshades and ear plugs and encourages employees
to snooze in the middle of the work day. I haven't been able to
verify this, but it rings true to the eclectic Tokyo lifestyle.
The Mayo Clinic has even provided tips for nappers: Keep it short:
a half-hour at most; Take it in mid-afternoon: this is best for
deep, invigorating rest; If you can't nap, just rest: lie down
and get your mind on something else.
We may be facing
the day when the boss actually encourages us -- as my second-grade
teacher did -- to put our heads down on our desks and catch a
few winks.
Once again as I approach the end of middle age I discover the
wisdom in my father's actions.
Pardon me while I try to catch a few Z's.
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Allan R. Andrews can be contacted at allan.andrews@reporters.net