What does Google, NIKE, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, the Boss Man, Uncle and myself all have in common? We are nap takers! A daily power nap is almost a requirement around here with early mornings, and late evenings getting a 30 minute shut eye right after lunch has been passed down through generations. It helps mood, performance, memory, alertness; but, it does not help slow eating, as food is usually scarfed down Hell Week military style to get a couple of those much needed minutes of solitude.
A NASA study backs up the claim by showing that a nap of just 26minutes can boost performance by as much as 34%. Employers are also taking notice and companies are developing nap rooms and nap times to recoup some of the $150 billion a year of lost productivity because of tired workers.
There is a time and a place for a nap. With new trucking regulations that went into effect the beginning of the month, that place was going to be a loaded cattle pot for 30 minutes within the first eight hours of driving. I laughed outloud at the idiocy.
Well, last week the DOT kind of redeemed themselves as they granted a 90-day waiver for livestock transporters as a result of being hammered with request from livestock groups to rethink this stupidity. It’s not over people, this is just the beginning and I highly encourage you to contact the DOT or your politicians and encourage them to permanently repeal the 30 minute nap period. If we have cattle in the corrals, or on the trailer it is not the time to be taking a nap. Ranchers have figured that out, now the DOT needs to do the same!