Cat naps.

If I think back to my most creative afternoon periods, I have to go all the way back to Kindergarten. I remember the vivid colours of my finger painting and the austere straight lines of my Bauhaus influenced Lego constructions as visions of building brightly coloured houses danced in my head.

Why were those afternoons so creative and filled with energy?

Seems recent studies suggest that the forced naps we were made to take played a big role in those halcyon days of creativity and energy infused activity. There I thought it was all about the teachers nicking out for a coffee and a smoke.

The reality of the latest studies show that naps can be a powerful competitive advantage if companies would only buy into the restorative nature of the nap. The findings say it is not about the number of hours worked equaling value but rather the energy and creativity people bring to a company. A creativity and energy along with improved perception skills, reaction time and alertness born of naps taken strategically between 1pm and 3pm.

The evidence showing nappers out performing non nappers or “sleepy heads’ as we like to call them, has been researched from Harvard to Berkeley. The benefits of a 30 minute nap can be staff that are 2 to 3 times more productive in the afternoon than “sleepy heads”.

Richard Branson has introduced “restorative pods” into his Virgin Active gyms and they are proving popular among clients wanting a quick power nap during the day along with a spin class to keep mind and body in shape for the corporate tread mill. For someone of influence like Richard Branson and companies like Google who also employ the “pods”, to engage in the nap argument it bodes the question why not more companies?

Sleep researcher Mathew Walker of UC Berkeley finds, that at a neurocognitive level, a good nap can move you beyond where you were before you took the nap. The more hours we work the lesser our performance but companies still have difficulties in coming to terms with the Kindergarten model of a forced nap to restore performance.

I know on the odd occasion I fall asleep at my desk and wake up with a keyboard imprint on my cheek, the boss does not seem overly convinced I was doing it for the company’s benefit. Therein lays the conflict as companies take a dim view of a little shut eye on the company dollar. Until the “Nanna Nap” is introduced into contract EBAs, we’ll continue to ingest copious amounts of caffeine to keep us bright eyed and bushy tailed in the waning hours of the afternoon.

So as you grab a quick sandwich, don’t look down on a fellow corporate asleep on a park bench at lunch time, as they may be working on a performance advantage to make you look like a “sleepy head” in the afternoon meeting.