Raise your hand if a nap sounds pretty darn good right now. Yeah, I'm with you. But really, even though we all know it's good for our health, it just never happens, does it? Unless, of course, you happen to belong to a gym that offers a napping class (which, by the way, our own Fitz was calling for two years ago).

I'm serious -- some gyms truly are implementing a napping class. But it might not be quite what you think. If you've ever taken a yoga class, you're probably familiar with the intense relaxation that comes at the end of class when you reach Savasana, or Corpse Pose. And sadly, that pose usually only lasts for a few minutes.

More and more yoga classes are beginning to incorporate longer periods of this deep relaxation. At select Equinox fitness clubs, for example, members can take part in a 45-minute PowerNap+ class, which starts with light yoga and cardio and ends with 15 minutes during which they can relax or even sleep. In fact, the instructor covers members with a blanket and rubs lavender on their foreheads to encourage a little shut-eye. It's not yet available in all locations, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more of them pick the class up.

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Cindy Crawford always looks stunning, whether she's toting around her kids, going out with her superstar friends or glamming it up on the red carpet with her husband. What's her secret? She recently spoke to Time Online about her healthy habits and how she manages to look so darn good all the time.

"There is no secret, not like finding the perfect jeans," she says. "It's genetics - I was born with a good envelope - and lifestyle ... when I was 20, I was not super-skinny, so I got into exercise and it has become part of my life. You do not find time to exercise, you make time, otherwise you will find millions of other things to do."

And boy does she exercise. Crawford admits that before her kids, her workouts were so exhausting she had to rest afterwards, adding, "I found after I had my first kid I could not come home after my workouts and have a nap, so I had to adapt them to make them softer - so they would energize me, rather than wear me out."

To read more about how Crawford stays fit, click here.

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Unless you're: A) under the age of two; B) in high school; or C) eligible for an AARP card, naps are not usually considered socially acceptable. And anyway, who has the chance to nap? Most of us spend our afternoons in an office, running errands or doing something else that's productive.

But a nap, even a quick one, can really help restore alertness and improve your mood, so don't feel guilty about taking one. Divine Caroline has seven tips for napping effectively. Here are a couple:

• Don't sleep longer than 45 minutes. After this amount of time, you'll be drifting into deep sleep and will feel groggy when you wake up.
  
• Find a place to lie down -- it takes longer to fall asleep sitting up.
• Don't nap too close to bedtime -- you'll be lying awake when it's time to hit the sack.
  

Want more tips? Read the full article here.

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I'm a night owl. In fact, many nights my night-owlish tendencies merge right into insomnia. My son, on the other hand, is an early bird. We have a rule in our house that says he can't leave his room until 6 a.m. Otherwise, he'd have me up at 5:15 or so every morning. When you pair my late nights with my (unwilling) early mornings, you end up with one tired gal. I try to avoid napping as I worry that it will mess with my ability to sleep at night. According to this article, taking a brief snooze in the afternoon is a healthy thing to do.

I first read about this over on our sister site, DIYLife, and I was happy to see the health perks a short nap can have. Naps can boost alertness, creativity, and mood while reducing stress. Read the article for tips on when and how to nap... it just might do your body good!

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I've struggled with sleep problems my whole life, and am certainly no stranger to bouts of insomnia. Not sleeping is more than a nuisance -- it can be overwhelmingly difficult to deal with, and it can impact every aspect of your life. So when it comes to sleep tips, I can assure you, I've tried them all. If you're having trouble getting your zzzs in, consider these steps:

• Eat dinner a few hours before bed, and don't eat too much. It's hard to sleep when you body is digesting and your stomach is uncomfortably full. And eating a nutritious diet never hurt either.
  
• Don't drink caffeine after 3pm.
  
• Don't nap -- go for a walk instead, and go to bed a bit earlier. If you must nap, make sure you nap before 3pm.
  
• Get some sort of exercise every day. This was key for me -- I rarely have trouble sleeping when I work out, but when I don't, I feel like I have extra energy at bed time.

Several studies have been conducted on the relationship between sleep and memory, with evidence clearly showing that top performance requires an adequate amount of shut-eye.

But what about naps? How long do they really have to be in order to give us that rejuvenating mental boost? A team of researchers from the University of Dusseldorf in Germany set out to find the answer to that very question.

In their study, researchers asked a group of students to remember a set of words and then gave them a one hour break before testing them. During that hour, some of the students were allowed to sleep for approximately six minutes, while the rest were kept awake. Remarkably, on waking, the napping students performed better in the memory test.

However, some scientists not involved with the study were not convinced. In past research, it was found that the processing of memories takes place in deep sleep, a phase which does not normally start until at least 20 minutes after falling asleep.

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Wouldn't it be nice to take a catnap when that mid-afternoon slump hits? You know you want to, but what would your boss think? Maybe if you show her this study that found that daytime naps boost memory, she'll let you lay your head down for just a minute and catch some zzzs.

The study found that when people absorbed information prior to a nap, they were more likely to remember it when they woke up. If they didn't master the material before snoozing, however, their memory didn't improve post-nap. So a nap won't help you if you didn't get it right the first time, but according to this study at least, it might help you retain material that you've learned.

Seems like a good excuse for a break, doesn't it?

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Why is it that we feel guilty for taking naps? Ever been sound asleep during the daylight hours when a ringing phone jolts you out of your slumber? I have. And when my caller asks after hearing my groggy voice, "Were you sleeping?" I'm ever so quick to announce, "Sleeping? No, I'm not sleeping."

It's too bad naps are not more socially acceptable. Because they sure are beneficial.

"Napping should not be frowned upon at the office or make you feel guilty at home," says Dr. James B. Maas, psychologist and sleep expert at Cornell. "It should have the status of daily exercise."

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It seems like we're hearing a lot about napping at work lately, dare we hope it's the beginning of a soon-to-be widely accepted practice? I highly doubt it, but that doesn't mean you can't still try it every once in awhile (discreetly, of course!) to rejuvenate and refresh yourself so you get more done.

Of course nobody is recommending you take a nap right at your desk or cubicle (wearing those sunglasses with the eyeballs painted on the outside), but if you have the chance to get away over your lunch hour or in the afternoon then that's another story altogether. And although napping might sound like a simple enough thing to do, there are things you can do to nap in the best way and get the most from the whole experience. If you don't have one of these MetroNaps Energy Pods (hilarious!) to create the perfect sleeping environment, then maybe a "Meditation Nap" would work just as well? It's about relaxing and getting the most out of just a few minutes of shut-eye, from as little as 5 to as many as 20 minutes. Read the instructions on how to take a Meditation Nap, give it a shot, and let us know how it works for you!

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Not really. But this is my grand invention for the day. Wouldn't it be wonderful? The reason I wish for a nap room is because sometimes I am legitimately exhausted! I love to work out. My profession is fitness and I pursue it with a passion, but sometimes I just feel like a nap would do me equal good.

I have two small children ages 2 and 4, who stay with me full time. They're even in my gym with me while I train people. I run myself ragged doing it all. Between training, lecturing, writing and keeping my house nice... I take them on wonderful adventures each day.The only time I get for myself is when they stay at the "Kids Club" at the gym I attend. Mind you ... I own an amazing gym, but can't use it because the kids want me to entertain them. So ... I use the other gym and they play at the Kids Club.

Sometimes when I go to the gym, I'm really wishing for a nap. Just a little dark room with clean sheets that I could doze in for half an hour. How many people would go for that? I 'd bet it would be cool to go for a run and then take a snooze to break up the work day. So there you have it. My invention of the day. If someone reading this owns a gym, and puts in a nap room, please invite me. I could really use some rest.

I've often said that life would be better if I could only get a daily nap in, like we did in kindergarten. I honestly think I would be more productive in the afternoons at work, when the mid-afternoon slump takes hold and refuses to allow me to concentrate until I've had a coffee or a brisk walk outside. In Europe, they take afternoon naps – why can't we? After all, it's been proven that afternoon naps increase alertness, improve mood and enhances mental performance, according to this. If studies like this keep popping up, what do you think the chances are that our workplaces will adopt an afternoon nap policy? I am keeping my fingers fiercely crossed

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Unfortunately, teary eyes and tantrums are a very common part of a child's earliest years. Around the first birthday, it is common for kids to develop separation anxiety, getting upset when a parent tries to leave them with someone else. Separation anxiety occurs when a child is fearful of being left with someone else. While these feelings are normal, parents may not know how to react when a child becomes this upset. Understanding what your child is going through and having a few coping strategies in mind can go a long way toward helping both of you get through it. Here's a few helpful hints to help ease those tantrums.

Try not to begin child care or day care between 8 and 12 months of age, when separation anxiety is most likely to start and practice being apart by gradually introducing your child to being alone with other people they trust like family members or special friends. Try not to leave your child when they are tired or hungry and try to schedule your departure after a meal or nap. Be calm and consistent when leaving your child but firmly tell them that you're leaving but that you'll be back, and give them a time frame. Be sure to follow through on promises you make and don't show up late after you've promised your child to be back at a certain time.

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If I didn't love the U.S.A. so much I'd totally be moving to France! The fact that they have 35 hour work weeks and much more generous vacation time on average is tempting enough, but now health officials are looking into the benefits of sleep on work performance and, get this, the possibility of paid nap time at work.

Are you serious? A nap break? That's awesome in theory, but I wonder how that would work exactly... Instead of "break rooms" they'll have "nap rooms," with grungy beds all kinds of people are sleeping in at different times? Or maybe everybody gets a comfy reclining chair and the office goes quiet at a certain time each day?

Seems easier to just shorten the work week a little more, and maybe promote a start time of noon across the board. Every day can start like a Saturday, wouldn't that be awesome?

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Afternoon naps aren't just for kids. Although your first goal should be getting enough sleep each night, if that's not happening for you an afternoon nap can make a huge difference in your mood, productivity and overall health.

"Many famous, successful people have been using this as their secret tool. What I've always found is that the CEO is usually the one who's allowed to nap," said Sara C. Mednick, a psychologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This isn't a new idea. Some of the most influential, productive people in history have been big believers in the afternoon nap, like John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison and Winston Churchill, to name just a few.

To get the most from your nap, don't nap too close to your usual bedtime and block out light, noise and other distractions to allow your body to fall asleep as fast as possible.

Via: Lifehacker

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I have been toying with the idea of trying polyphasic sleep. The promise is less sleep overall, with few ill-effects from the added time. By taking brief naps at regular intervals, one can supposedly cut out 2-5 hours of sleep time. More time for work! I know, it sounds too good to be true. But is it? The military finds soldiers having to stay awake for hours on end, and they have researched this quite a bit. I've not seen their conclusions (I would think they're top secret or something), but I have followed the efforts of a couple of polyphasic sleep bloggers.

I was first introduced to polyphasic sleep by Steve Pavlina's blog. Steve has done a great job of chronicling his own efforts, and has a wealth of info on his site (see the links at the bottom of his post). Unfortunately, like most of the polyphasic sleepers I've read of, Steve went back to the monophasic, sleep-at-night schedule we all hold dear. Another blogger, xeeban, may have the reason: it's tough to be a polyphasic sleeper in a monophasic world. Think about daily routines, and how disruptive it is to have to nap every couple of hours.

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