Feeling tired and sleepy in mid afternoon? Do what the experts say, take a nap.

By Olivene Godfrey

Son Barry and I were discussing the period of time in the afternoon when we experience transient sleepiness. He did some research on the web and came up with some interesting data.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th president of the United States and leader of the free world, routinely closed the door to his office in mid afternoon and put on his pajamas. He then proceeded to take a 30 minute nap. Rising refreshed, he would tell aides that such a nap gave him the stamina to work the long hours required of the U.S. commander-in-chief during the Cold War.

Sleep researchers William Dement says that it was LBS who was acting normally, the rest of us, who refuse to bring pajamas to work, are the abnormal ones. LBJ was responding to something experienced by nearly everyone on the planet and it can be nearly impossible to get anything done during this period. If you attempt to push through, which is what most people do, you can spend most of your afternoon fighting a gnawing tiredness. It's a fight because the brain wants you to take a nap and doesn't care what the owner is doing. The concept of "siesta"institutionalized in many cultures, may have become as an explicit reaction to the nap zone. Some scientists think that a long sleep at night and a short nap in the midday represent human sleep behavior as its most natural.

Regardless, the nap zone matters, because our brains don't work as well during it. The nap zone also is literally fatal: More traffic accidents occur during it than at any other time of the day.

But, the NASA study showed that a 26-minute nap improved a pilot's performance by more than 34 percent. Another study showed that a 45 minute nap produced a similar boost in cognitive performance, lasting more than six hours.

Since I'm retired, it's easier to take a nap in the afternoon. But, when I worked at a job, I often wished our culture had a "siesta zone."

See you next time.