In Praise of Naps
I remember reading this cool story about Edison. He didn’t have a firm separation between day and night and kept a bed in his office. When he was tired, in the middle of the day, he had a 15 or 20 minute nap, and then woke up, full of bounce. If he was wide awake in the night, he worked. As a result, he was usually fresh, and alert.
I am a great believer in that—and find it hard to believe that anything is worth running ragged and tired.
And so, I am also a great believer in—and practitioner of!!—naps. Generally one a day, for 13-20 minutes, but on a tired day, I might have 2 or 3 short 15-20 minute naps, just to regain bounce and read or write or think or live at full speed.
My favourite description of a nap is from Iris Murdoch’s “The Good Apprentice”—“two days for the price of one.” That’s what a long nap, 30-60 minutes gives me. The morning’s turmoils, tensions, happenings and work now seem far away; it’s like starting a new day afresh!!
It’s exactly what I feel on resuming my day after an hour of prayer. Yesterday’s hurly-burly, this morning’s frustrations now seem far-away, past history. He has made all things new!
* * *
Napping may seem slothful to the Western mind but in the East, it’s been part of the way of life for millennia, probably. The sun streams in at 5 o’clock; the noise of life begins. And then, not surprisingly, by mid-afternoon, sleepiness overwhelms you, and a nap restores you for the rest of your day.
My father, a Chartered Accountant, was the Controller of Accounts at Tata Steel, and walked home every day for lunch, and laid down, flat on his back, his hankerchief over his eyes, and slept soundly for about half an hour. At two, he walked back for his second shift. He and my mother quite unnecessarily woke at 5 a.m. to read their newspapers, with bowls of mangoes beside them, so I guess they adapted to this biphasic sleep.
* * *
Many contemporary solutions to modern life are counter-intuitive. For instance, people often recommend that you go out for a run or garden when you are depressed. And when I do do that, I feel immeasurably better. However, the trick is getting myself to do it.
I am afraid what I do when I feel depressed is have a nap (with a timer) resting with God, telling him the Go has leaked out of me, but I do want to do this and this and that and please would He restore me. It is a quiet rest with God—I guess it’s prayer, because I certainly feel God’s closeness and enveloping—and I am restored after it, and feel happier and motivated again. Though to call it prayer feels a bit of a con. I lie down guiltily– knowing I am doing the very thing one is not supposed to when depressed or out of motivation: take to bed. And I guess it’s God’s mercy that I regain my bounce and motivation.
I am afraid I no longer resonate with the things I read about waking early, Bruce Wilkinson saying that you will stagnate and not reach spiritual heights unless you wake at 5 (in The Secret of the Vine) or Jeff Goins’ advocacy of early rising to write.
These are the verse which speak to me on the subject, from Psalm 127
Unless the Lord builds the house,
In vain do the builders labour
In vain is your earlier rising,
Your going later to bed
For he gives to his beloved sleep.
* * *
Only a fraction of writers who write are widely read by their generation. And only a fraction of those writers will be read by successive generations.
And yet we have a mandate: To bear fruit which will last.
And how are we to do that?
It’s counter-intuitive and paradoxical. By hanging out with Jesus, resting in Jesus, remaining in Jesus, learning from Jesus, talking to Jesus, listening to Jesus, being one with him. Abiding, dwelling in him.
And my time of this rest and unity, beyond words, is often when I am dozing off on a brief 15 minute nap I’m taking because I am too groggy, too mentally tired, or simply too sad and limp and listless to do anything else.
And in the still waters of the nap, he makes me down to rest. He restores my soul. Again.
I love Him!
More from my site
E J H Nash, the Man who Converted Justin Welby, Nicky Gumbel, John Stott, David Watson and Michael Green
Seedtime and Harvest. A blessing on labour. Genesis 8
“Let me Get Home Before Dark,” by J. Robertson McQuilkin: A Prayer to Finish Well
Now or Never: How our Spiritual Destiny Hinges on Prompt Obedience
Youpee, or UP: My grandparents’ formidable landlady: An Excerpt from my Memoir-in-Progress, I Lift up my Eyes to the Hills
Goodness, I thought my 1 (or 3) brief naps a day was my guilty, slothful secret. Delighted and amazed to see it's widely shared!!
If I can, on the days I work a full day, during the lunch hour I've found a nearby park with rather a comfortable tree trunk in the sun I can doze under.
I haven't yet found a way to nap when I'm at home, since my children have long since “grown out” of wanting a daytime nap, and are on the go wanting attention all afternoon. Yay for Sunday afternoons when we can take turns to look after the children while the other parent has some “Me time” (usually involving a pillow).
I have been a firm believer in naps since high school days. In those days, I came home from summer school, lay flat on the cool floor, then snoozed as soon as I started to read the paper. I like a late morning nap sometimes, too, when I'm off. Followed by another one in the afternoon. And Sunday naps are the best and needed.
So glad I'm not the only one who 'indulges' in a restorative nap (or three). It's amazing how much better the world looks after a pray and a bit of time out.
Ah, I work from home. I really think I would flag in an office, or maybe keep running on coffee.
Michael Hyatt who does work in an office naps in a zero-gravity chair.
http://michaelhyatt.com/why-you-should-take-a-nap-every-day.html
Practically, at the office, what do you do to take a nap?
Yes, it's a wonderful gift, isn't it? And thank you for following my blog, Debbie. And welcome:-)
I have a lot of health problems and often don't sleep well at night so there are occasions when I have to give in and have a snooze in the day time. I always feel better for it.
But it's funny reading what Mary wrote. I think there may be something in switching the brain off when it gets a little overloaded.
Things often seem better in the cold light of day and perhaps when things get a little too frenetic or stressed for me in the daytime, I should simply sit down, shut my eyes, block the world and the worries out and have a cat nap!
warm wishes
Debbie
x
Hi Mary, That's funny. I too use napping as a temporary solution to “just about anything.”
I learned to nap first as a breast feeding mom when a book, “Breasfeeding your Baby”, suggested that when a mother became overwhelmed and alarmed about housework or just about anything, we should just take a nap! It worked and that has been my solution to just about everything since. Then, when we lived in South East Asia, it was hot and everyone else napped, so my husband and I adapted. We found it so necessary and refreshing, we've never looked back. I don't know what we'd do without a little nap everyday. Sometimes it's just lying flat for a few minutes, usually, if I sleep for more than an hour I'm groggy for the rest of the day. I believe serious napping might solve many of the world's problems. Certainly, people would be less cranky.