Medford mail tribune., June 16, 1957, Image 46

ou've heard of blood banks, artery banks,
eye banks, and soil banks. But do you know about
sleep banks? You should, because deposits in a
sleep bank may save you physical wear and tear,
brighten your disposition, and lengthen your life.
In the rush of modern living, most of us tend to
rim our batteries down by getting insufficient sleep
at night and failing to take a few minutes' pause
during even the most hectic days. Yet doctors say
that if we Americans took brief naps during the
day, we'd feel better, return to our jobs with more
energy, and have fewer heart attacks and ulcers.
Someone once asked Senator Chauncey M.
Depew, the famous after-dinner speaker who in
cidentally lived to be 94 how he managed his
endless evening engagements.
"Simple." he replied, "I've got a sleep bank.
When I know I must be up late and will need to
chaw heavily on my sleep account, I make an extra
deposit during the day by taking a nap."
In many countries, everything stops for at least a
couple of hours around midday while people go
home for a relaxed lunch, some conversation, and
a bit of shut-eye. Even in America, heads are
beginning to nod.
In Washington, for example, a hotel rents
looms to businessmen who drop in foi after
lunch slumber sessions. The New York Ath
letic Club has a darkened room for athletes
who'd rather sleep. And a lunchtime health
club, two blocks oflf madcap Madison Avenue,
features a "snooze room."
Okay, you're probably saying, so those
people are lucky. But how can I sneak in
those extra 40 winks?
It's not always easy, but it's not impossible.
Naps are a matter of habit. Once the habit is
acquired, you simply juggle your day to
make time for the extra sleep.
Take a housewife, for instance. She can learn to
nap while the baby does, or while the soup sim
mers. One 90-year-old Chicagoan has napped with
such regularity each afternoon that neighboring
storekeepers check their clocks by watching the
raising and lowering of her bedroom shades.
Do you commute to work? If so, take notice
of how many fellow-commuters recharge their
batteries by dozing o!T on the way home.
Of course, if you drive to work, this is hardly
possible. But I know a traveling salesman who
parks his car around noon, puts a coin in the
parking meter, and drops off for an hour of sleep.
Tile secretary bolsters her evening energy by
making the most of the cot in the ladies' rest room.
And if you're one of those wives who complain
about their husbands being sullen, unromantic,
and always too tired for an evening out, try delay
ing dinner while the breadwinner has a brief nap.
Remember that slumber is also a matter of
quality as well as quantity. After a hectic day, you
may count sheep and toss for a good part of the
night. But n brief nap during the day can lower
your blood pressure and soothe your jangled
nerves in short, slow you down and relax you.
In tropical countries, siestas are the style and
nly "mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the
noonday sun." If the thermometer shows America
to be relatively temperate, our chronic headache
indicates that our tempo is the hottest on earth.
So why shouldn't we adopt a National Nap
Hour? Napoleon, Lincoln, Edim. and Churchill
all have nt-en disciples of the fast snmize. and it
thdn't hamper their efficiency. We already have
colTec breaks, tea breaks, and cigaret break
Hi"v alxuit a sleep break?
rITn 010
Ool
We're busy people,
but we'd get more done
and feel better while
doing it if ice cultivated
the habit of a daily nap.
ion SlujLinnLbeir 2
by Jean Komaiko
The operator of a loan company in
St. Louis believed so strongly in a
daily nap that tt took the police to
toafce him up. While he slumbered, a
burglar smashed his front window,
triggered the burglar alarm, and
pounded the handle of the safe with
an iron bar!
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Sleep ! whre yav find it, and too 90b took a od on the dubious comforts of a battleship ancho
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