The Popcorn Stand: What’s a nap worth?

I don’t know if this is the greatest idea ever, or the dumbest idea ever. But I have to admit the people from the gym who came up with this idea deserve credit. Because they’re actually getting people to come to their place to nap — and to pay them for the privilege to do so.

Now I’m a big supporter of napping. There’s nothing like a good nap. I take one every morning before I come to work after taking Pete and Tuf-Tuf (you know Sir Tuffington something or other) to the park. But the day I have to pay someone to help me get a good nap is the day I frankly hope never comes.

But the David Lloyd Club in the United Kingdom has introduced nap-ercise. The class is pretty similar to what happened when we were in preschool and kindergarten when we were first conditioned to take a good nap. The instructor leads the class in 15 minutes of warm-up stretches which supposedly gets you ready to nap and then supposedly those in the class get 45 minutes of sleep.

Of course, in today’s society we have all kinds of things to help us get to sleep because for some reason we also have all kinds of things to keep us awake. It’s gotten to the point where I think the people who make a living keeping us awake are in collusion with those who make a living trying to get us to sleep.

When I’m not napping and watching TV before I go to work, I’ll watch some caffe latte, frappuccino something or other commercial followed by the craftomatic, sleepomatic, sleep comfort or whatever commercial that guarantees to give us the sleep we need.

Or then it’s the power energy, Monster drink commercial promising to keep me awake without the crash of course, followed by the prescription drug commercial promising me plenty of sleep — but, of course, with all the possible side effects that might kill me that comes with any prescription drug.

All of it keeps me up at night. Or makes me want to take a nap. I don’t know. Maybe I need that nap-ercise class after all.

— Charles Whisnand