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Random Thoughts

Naps are nice

Hudson Cooper
Posted 7/19/22

Kindergarten is a time when 5-year-olds start to develop ac- ademic and social skills. It is a time to build new friendships and explore the world outside of their homes. For me, it was also a time …

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Random Thoughts

Naps are nice

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Kindergarten is a time when 5-year-olds start to develop ac- ademic and social skills. It is a time to build new friendships and explore the world outside of their homes. For me, it was also a time to explore what will become a lifelong habit...taking a nap.

We learned many things in kindergarten. It was a chance to learn how to color between the lines. We learned how to swab glue on our hands so we could peel it off after it dried. It was our introduction to the barter system during lunch time. I mastered the art of upgrading my bagged lunch through creative swapping. By trial and error, I learned that my prized Ring Ding could be traded for a Devil Dog and a juice box.

But the thing I learned to do after our lunch break would serve me well in my adult life. I got acclimated to mentally shutting down during the highlight of my kindergarten day...nap time.

Wrapped up in a small blanket with my head nestled into a pillow pulled from my cubicle, I was able to drift off to sleep during the 20-minute break in the school day. It served a purpose for my classmates and my teacher, Ms. O’Conner. As my fellow students rested, Ms. O’Conner snuck outside for her cigarette break and relief from supervising us that included making sure that Kevin did not eat any more crayons.

The word nap is a shortened version of the term “cat nap.” Historians say that “cat nap” goes back to the days of yore. “Yore” correct if you guessed it stems from ancient Egypt where the cat was a sacred animal prized by the Pharaohs. Like felines today, the Pharaoh’s cats slept for a good part of the day. So, the upper crust inhabitants of Egypt began to emulate the cats by taking sleep breaks. Ancient hieroglyphics found in caves near Giza depict sleep chambers for the wealthy rulers and their purring cats. One recently found hieroglyphic portrays an irate Pharoah gesturing and shouting out of a portal to the workers carving blocks for the pyramid. Spoken in their native Afroasiatic language it roughly translates into, “Hey you with the chisel. Keep it down. The royal cat is trying to nap.”

Science has shown that there are many benefits to taking a daytime nap. If you have a quiet place at work, a short nap will give you an adrenaline shot of alertness, speed up reaction time and might even do some problem solving. Studies show that if you are stumped, your brain will be working on a solution while you nap. Have you ever been un- able to finish a crossword puzzle or conquer “Wordle” and then walk away in frustration? Do not despair, while you nap, your brain is problem solving. To your amazement sometimes you return to the puzzle and “voila” the solution rushes onto the page. “Voila” is a French word from the Latin word “vo” meaning “oh yeah” and the Greek “ila” meaning “that’s it.”

Taking a nap has also proven to boost your memory. Maybe the neurons, synapses and astrocytes need a break from input to get the time to remember answers to such vital questions like, “Where are my car keys?” and “What the heck is an astrocyte?”

The ideal nap should be no longer than 20 minutes. That gives your system time to relax. A nap for a few hours is ill-advised because not only might it prevent a good night’s sleep, but it could also make you miss the job interview with Vandelay Industries for the latex salesperson position.

Note to my readers: As an experiment, I took a brief nap after writing this column. While I slept, I had a dream that I opened a shop that had little rooms with a cot where people could pay for a 20-minute nap. The shop had no name. But my brain was apparently problem solving. Upon awakening I wrote down “Nap-Orium” and “The Snooze Zone.”

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.

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