"You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That's what I always do. Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That's a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one-well, at least one and a half, I'm sure. When the war started, I had to sleep during the day because that was the only way I could cope with my responsibilities."

-Winston Churchill, quoted by Walter Graebner in My Dear Mister Churchill

According to William A. Anthony of Reading, Mass., corporate America could learn a lot from Churchill's words of wisdom on the topic of napping.

A psychology professor and author of the book, The Art of Napping, Anthony has a lot to say about naps and how truly refreshing they can be in the middle of a workday. His expertise on the topic has nothing to do with his position as director of the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, however.

Napping is purely a personal interest, he says. "I've napped all my life. I've always felt that naps made me feel better and perform better. I would find a place to nap at work, after work, certainly on weekends. It's always been a part of my life," he explains.

While on vacation several years ago, Anthony discovered that napping was an interest shared by his extended family of 30 to 40 people. They would come in from the beach or an outing and everyone would take a nap. "We would play real hard and then nap real hard. We started commenting on one another's naps, making fun, starting nap contests and rating people's naps in terms of degrees of difficulty," he explains. "Napping on the beach in the sun, that's easy. But, if you're napping next to a loud card game with kids jumping on your back, that's impressive. When you woke up, we would comment favorably on your napping ability. We generally had fun with it."

Since Anthony had written a number of textbooks on psychology during his career, his family encouraged him to write a book about napping. "They said, 'You write books that put people to sleep. Why don't you write a book that is intended to put people to sleep?'" he jokes.

Six years later, Anthony wrote The Art of Napping, with help from his wife, Camille, and their daughters, Julie, Jill and Jessica. While seriously trying to promote the idea of napping as part of a healthy lifestyle, they also enjoyed the process of developing the book. Sitting around and making up terms for a napping dictionary, for instance, brought hours of laughter to their home. Indeed, these "naphomaniacs" (nappers who overdo a good thing) and their "napkin" (a napper's relatives) had great fun in their effort to build awareness of the terrible "nappism" (discriminatory behavior and prejudicial attitudes against nappers and napping) that exists in the United States.

Little did they know what a media frenzy they would generate in 1997 by publishing The Art of Napping. Good Morning America, Nightline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times were among the many media outlets that did stories on the Anthonys and their ode to napping. NBC's Today Show even took footage of Camille Anthony napping at work (on the boss' couch, with a blanket given to her as a present by co-workers).

Inspired by the success of their book, the Anthonys created a web site <www.napping.com> to further promote the benefits of napping and to gather information for their next book, which will focus on napping in the workplace. Due to be published this fall, their second napping book will discuss problems caused by sleepiness at work, companies that allow napping, tips for workplace nappers and barriers to napping in the workplace, among other things.

By answering a survey on their napping habits and challenges, visitors to the web site have revealed that most workplace napping is done in secret. "The funny part is when they describe how they nap," says Anthony. "A napping spot that comes up frequently is the bathroom. They go in, close the stall door and nap. One woman described how she positions her head on the toilet paper roll."

While most of the information is anecdotal, Anthony does refer to research studies done by "nonapapologists" (people who don't apologize for studying naps) that extol the benefits of napping. "Science is confirming what our mothers taught us," he says. "Take a nap and you won't be as cranky and you'll be able to do better."

In addition to endless hours of amusement, the Anthonys hope their napping literature will inspire business leaders to change their attitudes about napping. They'd like to see napnasiums (rooms designed for napping) in every workplace and a greater acceptance of napping as a way to improve productivity.

"Most people are sleep-deprived. That's why naps are so important," Anthony says. "If you're allowed to take a break from work to get coffee or just schmooze, why not put your head down on the desk and nap?"

-Sharon Huss Roat, AS '87

William A. Anthony and his wife, Camille, live in Reading, Mass. Their daughter, Jessica, is a sophomore at the University of Delaware.