James+F’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech=

Naps
=Text of Speech=

As I was trying to work on my speech this weekend I ended up taking a nap instead. When I woke up I was a little bit groggy and also kinda confused about what day it was because my short nap had ended up taking a few hours, but after a few minutes I was feeling better than I did before my nap. While I don’t always take naps, when I do I end up feeling more refreshed for the remainder of my day and need to sleep less at night. The only downside is the time that it takes up. That is why in the America that I grow old in I would like to see nap time not just in preschool, but in all school levels and the workplace.

Many great Americans from the past were known to value a good nap. People such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison, so obviously if you want to be as great as them you need to nap more.

Now you may say that most people don’t nap and that they are perfectly fine, and while it is true that humans are one of the few mammals that have monophasic sleep cycles, which means they sleep once a day, many scientists are beginning to question whether or not that is actually natural. Both babies and seniors take naps often and napping is an important aspect of some cultures, such as the spanish siesta. Most other mammals have polyphasic sleep cycles, meaning they sleep multiple times in a 24 hours period.

A benefit of this is that the time that you actually have to sleep is far less than most people sleep. One man went for a full year experimenting with the sleeping schedule of a 20 minute nap every four hours, only sleeping for about 2 hours a day. Now just think about all the extra stuff you could get done with an extra 6 hours every day. You could procrastinate way more, catch up on all your favorite TV shows, go to the gym at 2am when its not crowded at all, or walk around town at night, although that could get a little sketchy. People say that time is priceless, so why waste part of it sleeping when there is so much more you could do?

Well after a year that man I mentioned went back to a normal sleep schedule, not because he was worn out or sleep deprived, but simply because of the difficulty of dealing with the rest of society when he was only awake for 3 hours and 40 minutes at a time. That would cause issues with going to school, work, driving a car for a long time, watching plays and other performances, and anything else that requires an extended amount of time. The rest of society simply wasn’t operating like him, so he ended up having to switch back.

While that extreme example would be hard for the majority of America to implement, I believe we as Americans need to start appreciating the benefits of napping. When I come home from a long day of school I usually feel like shit and lack the motivation to do anything other than mess around on the internet. This period of procrastination can last quite a while for me and I often do not start my homework until after dinner. If I take a half hour nap instead when I get home, I am ready to start my homework around 3 and can usually get it done before dinner, allowing me to enjoy the rest of my free time without guilt.

I am sure that those of you who are not already napping right now might benefit from incorporating naps into your lives as well. According to the National Sleep Society, a 20-30 minute nap “provides significant benefit for improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.” And a NASA study also proved that “a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34% and alertness by 100%.” I know that we could all use those benefits when trying to do homework or study, not to mention the alertness needed for sports.

So in the America that I want to grow old in I want to see more people falling asleep on their desks in class. I want to see napping no longer associated with laziness, but with productivity. And I want to see nap time for people of all ages, not just preschoolers. Thank You

=Cite Your Sources= http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-one-year-later/ http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/napping http://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/beginners/ http://www.today.com/money/nap-rooms-encourage-sleeping-job-boost-productivity-1C8881304