A Place for the Power Nap

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Napping has had the hardest time gaining traction, despite the scientific evidence in its favor. A study by NASA found, for example, that a 26-minute nap increased pilots' performance 34%. "What other management strategy will improve people's performance 34% in 26 minutes?" asks Mark Rosekind, president of Alertness Solutions, a fatigue-management consultancy, and the former NASA scientist who conducted the research. Yet most businesses still reject public napping. According to a survey by William Anthony, a Boston University professor of rehabilitation counseling who created National Napping Day, 70% of respondents who sleep at work do so secretly, often curled up in the backseat of their car at lunch.

Where nap facilities are provided, sleep experts say, most employers offer them mainly as a perk to retain workers; the productivity and health benefits are often an afterthought. In the offices of Kaye/Bassman, a corporate headhunting firm in Dallas, a spiffy new relaxation room features $4,500 massage chairs, headphones and a four-way dimmer for the lights. CEO Jeff Kaye says he installed the room primarily as a fun reward for his employees, but he also sees the benefits for productivity. "After a stressful negotiation, people need to unplug," he says.

MetroNaps, a company that pioneered the concept of selling naps in sleep environments, is seeing the change in corporate attitudes firsthand. The New York City-- based company opened its first sleep-pod center in 2004 in the Empire State Building, a place where workers could pay $14 and discreetly tuck in to one of the pod-shaped, hooded recliners for a midday nap and recharge for 20 minutes. The company is expanding the concept with franchises -- the first one opened in New York City's financial district in March -- but MetroNaps co-founder Arshad Chowdhury says he is discovering a new line of business in pods for office use. As he scouted for franchises, he kept getting requests for individual pods that companies could use on-site. To meet the demand, MetroNaps redesigned the pods to fit through doorways and will take orders from July for the new office models.

Chowdhury's first client, the ad agency Arc Worldwide in London, leased two pods from MetroNaps after using them in a commercial. "We researched naps, and I think they really do contribute to better idea generation," says Andrew Card, Arc's president. Hannah Roberts, a communications manager at Arc, heads for the sleep pods behind the reception desk whenever she gets hit by a bout of afternoon lethargy and creative block. If she is lucky enough to find one empty, she leans back in the recliner, pulls down the visor, puts on noise-canceling earphones and drifts. Fifteen minutes later, the chair gently vibrates and brings her upright, block removed. "I would use them every day, but I have to share them with 450 other people," she says.

Is napping the new coffee break? Sleep experts say that day is getting closer for farsighted businesses. "I'm seeing a surge in bosses' saying, 'I want to bring this into my business,'" says Sara Mednick, a sleep researcher at the Salk Institute. "Usually the boss is a napper."