Arianna Huffington’s ‘Sleep Revolution’: Why Sleeping On The Job May Be Ideal | TODAY

Now to a new series dedicated to

something we could all use: a good snooze.

We talk a lot about sleep around here.

We're not alone. Studies show most

Americans aren't getting enough. Today,

Erica Hill is here with a new mission to

change that. Erica, good morning.

Hey, guys. Good morning to you. Arianna Huffington at

the Huffington Post is launching what

she calls the Sleep Revolution. She's

just written a new book by that name.

And it's not just that she's advocating a

solid night's rest. She also says

sleeping on the job could be a good thing.

Does your morning feel like this?

Or more like this?

For millions of Americans, a solid night's sleep is just a dream.

I think we

need to dispel the myth that we can

function perfectly on 4 or 5 hours.

Arianna Huffington, founder of the

Huffington Post, is on a crusade to

change the way we sleep. Studies show

more than a third of Americans say they

don't get enough. How did we get to the

point where lack of sleep, exhaustion,

pushing yourself to the limit

became a badge of honor? It all started

with the First Industrial Revolution,

believe it or not, when we started

believing that human beings could become

like machines and we could minimize downtime.

So sleep became a luxury. What

emerged was a kind of overachiever,

high-powered American notion that sleep

is for slackers, and a scant 5 hours a

night is the sleep of genius. Huffington

believes we're ready for change. We

already see CEOs like Jeff Bezos from

Amazon, and Satya Nadella, the CEO of

Microsoft, openly talking about needing 8

hours of sleep to be super effective.

Most of the time, we would have CEOs

bragging about how little sleep they get.

The push for more and better sleep is also

personal. After collapsing from

exhaustion years ago, Huffington

encouraged employees to unplug at night

and added nap rooms to her offices.

When we first opened them, there was a lot of

skepticism. People were worried that if

they were seen walking into a nap room in

the middle of the afternoon, it would

mean they're not as dedicated, not as

hardworking. We have completely

eliminated that stigma. And it's very

clear now in our entire

newsroom that having a nap in the middle

of the afternoon is actually a

performance-enhancing tool. And the

science backs those findings. Sara

Mednick, a researcher at the University

of California, studies sleep and brain

activity. She says power naps during the

day turbocharge your memory and boost

productivity. The benefits that we find

for napping include alertness, motor

memory--which is your ability to,

say, play piano or play baseball--and

also declarative memory, which is your

ability to remember things like my phone

number or my name. The benefits differ

depending on the time of day. Research

shows a short nap in the morning can

boost creative thinking and memory. In the

afternoon, it can help you feel better

physically. A 20-minute nap in the middle

of the day is going to be the best kind

of nap because you're not going to get

into deep slow-wave sleep and

feel groggy when you wake up. Before

society began to shun those extra Zs,

plenty of successful, well-known leaders

embraced the ritual, as did sports stars.

And now, more companies are cozying up to the idea.

Google, Zappos, and Ben & Jerry's

all offer nap rooms, similar to those at

the Huffington Post. It's kind of just

ingrained in our company culture to take

naps, and it's kind of the same thing as

if you would take an hour lunch break.

I'll find myself naturally waking up

after 20 minutes. You kind of find that

that is a good sweet spot for feeling recharged.

A feeling Arianna Huffington

predicts will catch on, fueled by the

science that shows more sleep is not

only better for your health but also the

bottom line. I really predict that in

the next 2 years, nap rooms in offices

are going to be as common as conference rooms.

Arianna says she's looking now to

bring the discussion to college campuses.

So She's going to be visiting 50 schools

with leading sleep experts to spread the

message about the importance of sleep.

She wants to get people thinking about

it at a younger age so that it becomes

just a normal part of who they are.

I like the mission to kind of change our

concept. You know, that used to be, "Oh, I

don't need 4 hours." Right. I'm so strong.

It's like--we need sleep. I'm embracing the fact

I need a nap.

I have such a hard time napping. I nap

for, like, 2, 3 hours. I'm like a midday sleeper. Wow.

That's not a nap; that's full-on sleep. I nap when the baby naps. Yes.

Erica, thanks, by the way. Arianna's

book, once again, is called The Sleep

Revolution. It comes out tomorrow. You can

find an excerpt at today.com. Hello, Today

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