Turns out Beetle Bailey had it right all along.
The loafing comic-strip Army private has been sleeping on duty for 70 years, to the frequent fury of his platoon sergeant. But on Wednesday, the Army released new guidelines for optimal soldier performance — and they include strategic and aggressive napping.
The recommendation is part of an overhaul of the Army’s physical fitness training field manual, which was rebranded this week as the FM 7-22 Holistic Health and Fitness manual. No longer is the guide focused entirely on grueling physical challenges like long ruck marches and pull-ups. Now it has chapters on setting goals, visualizing success, “spiritual readiness” and, yes, the art of the nap.
“Soldiers can use short, infrequent naps to restore wakefulness and promote performance,” the new manual advises. “When routinely available sleep time is difficult to predict, soldiers might take the longest nap possible as frequently as time is available.”
Read more ....
Update: The Army Rolls Out a New Weapon: Strategic Napping (New York Times)
WNU Editor: I have been practicing strategic and power napping all my adult life. Whenever I am a passenger in a car, bus, train, or plane .... I am napping. And it does make a big difference. Kudos to the US Army to push this. I am also lucky in that I can fall asleep right away. Something that really annoys my GF.
