Accidental Napping

Everyone needs a nap sometimes. My husband would set his watch alarm for twenty minutes after lunch, settle comfortably in his big recliner, and drop into a nap. When the twenty minutes were up, he woke refreshed and ready to go back to work.

Some companies I have read about have napping areas where workers can take a short nap and return to their jobs with an increased level of alertness and efficiency.

I've also read reports of some high-achieving, type A, genius level people who sleep only a very few hours at night, but take short catnaps during the day.

And some of us take accidental naps.

I blame it on age. As a senior citizen I tend to have broken sleep at night. So I am just not as rested as I would like to be.during the daytime. (While blaming it on age, to be honest I must confess to my lifelong tendency to become engrossed in a book and read far into the night. But I've lost my ability to sleep-in the next morning. I just keep waking up early.)

But I am not very good at taking naps. I may feel like I need a nap, but if I lie down on my bed, arrange my pillows for maximum comfort, and close my eyes, sleep rarely comes. My brain bounces around from one thing to another. The longer I lie there, the more restless I feel. I find that I am not really relaxed; I'm squeezing my eyes closed with tense muscles. So, I give it up and get up. No nap.

However, I take a lot of accidental naps.

For example, today I was sitting in my comfortable desk chair in my office corner; I was reading a book on my Kindle. And mid-sentence my eyes fell closed and my chin headed toward my chest. I don't know how long I was "out"--but there it was--an Accidental Nap!

I sometimes have three or four accidental naps a day. They don't last long and the sleep is not deep, but evidently they supply some of the rest my brain says I need. Yes, I am one of those old fogies napping in the chair! Just another Accidental Napper.