Foreign Cultures In An American Society
Note: This is a paper which I originally prepared for my English Composition I class regarding everyday observations we make. My topic was on Foreign Cultures In An American Society, hence the name. I choose this after observing how we interact with people of foreign cultures everyday and how they live in the American society. It was completed in MLA format.
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The smell was intense as we walked through the door, the contrast of fresh air to the thick aroma of the wide variety of foods that were spread throughout the restaurant.
I walked up to the wooden booth inside Tailgater’s near the University of Central Florida’s arena and sat down on the thick hunter-green seat, after choosing out favorite foods from the enormous buffet. As I began to chow down on a delectable dish of bow-tie pasta with an amazing Alfredo sauce, I realized that there was a bustle of activity going on around me.
I took notice to the various cultures and languages being spoken around me. They were mixed among the English speakers as though there was no comparison to be made. It was somewhat astonishing. There was a great mixture of foreign cultures and languages in the American restaurant on a college campus in Central Florida. This may not have been the case just five years earlier in the schools history. In fact, “according to UCF’s Office of Institutional Research, the minority population is one-third of the overall undergraduate population, but the enrollment rates among minority groups have increased” (Cristobal).
It seems as though there are more minorities on campus then there are of normal American citizens. However, this is most likely because those that we might consider a minority are actually American citizens. We tend to see people by the color of their skin and how they look. But this doesn’t mean they are foreign, they are often times born inside the United States.
In the booth behind me there was a new couple in their early twenties. The gentleman had a daughter. The young daughter was distant from the woman across from her daddy. They were of Hispanic decent. The women, whom I knew I had seen before somewhere on campus, spoke in Spanish to the young girl. Other than the few times the woman, who was very attractive, spoke to the little girl, there was no interaction between them. It was very obvious that there was no relation between the two.
The room buzzed with the sound of people chattering and enjoying the company of friends and family. People moved about without a care in the world. The fast paced atmosphere typical to college campuses was noticeably slower inside.
Another couple sat at a square wooden table enjoying their pasta while speaking to each other in Italian. The woman was older, and the man was a stereotypical Italian with a large figure, thick black hair and a foreboding look to him. They both seemed to be enjoying their conversation.
Such as diverse population in a single restaurant was not always the norm in America. Even the “land of the free” has had its problems. There has been extreme racism, sexism and numerous other prejudices throughout the history of the United States. All of the hatred that has taken place in the past goes against the basic principles that our forefathers laid out in the Declaration of Independence. The forefathers wanted freedom for all, and in that spirit they proclaimed, “we hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence).
The mistakes America has made in the past seem outrageous, and many of them are, but lets not forget that many of these mistakes have been paid for. America has been maturing as a child would, it started out doing bad things, but gradually began to see what was right and do it. We no longer keep women from voting, African Americans now have equal rights and Asians are a normal part of our society. Throughout the years we have become a much more accepting and diverse nation as a whole and that is surely evident in our universities.
Just behind the Italian couple was a double date of married couples. They were in no hurry to leave, slowly eating their various foods while speaking amongst themselves about everything from family ties to the Internet and how they used it when it first came out. This dinner date seemed to be the norm for the couple that casually spoke amongst themselves.
There was never a lack of entertainment around the room. The kitchen door swung around with people moving in and out. You could see the food being brought out, steaming rising from each dish. The lights, which seemed nonexistent from the walkway outside, were dim but still bright enough to see everything going on around the restaurant.
The young Hispanic woman was eating and chatting about her time at UCF when the little girl tugged on her father’s shirt.
“I need to go potty,” the girl whispered into her father’s ear.
The seemingly single dad excused himself from the table and gently grabbed his daughter’s hand. He walked with her at his side toward the men’s room. The men walking out of the room after the father entered with his daughter seemed unbothered at the little girl’s presence.
As the little girl went to the bathroom the older Italian couple continued to enjoy their meal with friendly conversation. Some of the differences in the cultures were apparent while others were more hidden. Whenever they spoke they leaned in really close to each other as if to convey a secret. They either had a lot of secrets or just enjoyed being close to each other.
The rising number of ethnicities on college campuses is extremely apparent and the University of Central Florida is no different. There are some benefits though, “UCF’s maturing diversity would prepare its students for a diverse workplace and population” (Cristobal).
Today, anyone can succeed in the workplace if they work hard enough. College campuses throughout the country are the starting line for these successful people of varying races, sexes and ethnicities.
The double date across from us continued with their meal while they chatted about the poor economy. The debate seemed to heat up as talks of the economy turned to talks of politics and whom each one supported. Even with Barack Obama being so popular on college campuses, the couples were split. There was one couple for Obama and the other couple was for McCain.
There was an obvious debate, which ensued from the political chatter, and there were points that the debate was quite heated.
“John McCain admits he knows very little about the economy,” the male Obama supporter exclaimed.
“What does Obama truly know about the economy, what experience does he have, and why hasn’t he released his medical records or his congressional voting records,” the female McCain supporter asked.
“Why should he have too, he is nowhere near as old as McCain and obviously has less medical problems to worry about,” the Obama enthusiast replied.
“Fine, you don’t want to give a real answer, I understand; But what about his relation to domestic terrorist like Ayers,” the McCain fan inquired.
This contest continued for some time before the wives in each couple decided to put an end to it and begin their normal friendly, yet ultimately meaningless chatter.
The 2008 presidential election is further evidence that American has moved on from its prejudice ways and become a more accepting society. For a great deal of time in our country a black person couldn’t drink the same water as a white person. But now we have a black presidential candidate with an amazing chance of winning the election. This election also serves to further inspire minorities on college campuses to work hard to make their dreams come true.
Both men seemed to still be annoyed with each other but after a little time had passed they regained their demeanor and then began to converse again. The women and the men held their individual conversations while finishing up their meals.
Walking back from the bathroom with his young daughter the father smiled at the woman who was sitting waiting on them before she resumed eating her meal. He sat down and she casually grabbed his hand from across the table, they both seemed to enjoy each other’s company, despite the distractions of a child.
Throughout campus there is a feeling of unity among students because they support the same team, the UCF Knights. That feeling is very similar to the cultural unity that many ethnic students and Americans feel. It is that unity that is evident in the daily lives of scores of ethnic Americans, and it’s evident in the multicultural activities and organizations that are gathering steam on college campuses throughout the country. “At UCF, the multicultural ‘groups’ rates have risen faster than the white population within a year” (Cristobal).
We also seem to be seeing minorities stand up and band together to not only get what they want as a group but also for personal success. There is something that connects these people and they are coming together because of that.
The Italian duo finished up their meal and continued their conversation as they waited for the check. They each paid for their own meal, which shows that they probably are old friends. The check came and went and came back again, the waitress thanked the couple for coming. They then got up and headed toward the door.
The young couple got up and left after the man paid for the meal for everyone. The woman left out the door in front followed by the man who was holding his daughter’s hand as he walked out the door.
I finished my meal and asked for the check. The double date across from me continued to enjoy each other’s company as we walked toward the door. It was an amazing meal with great conversation for all who where there, no matter their culture or the language that they spoke.
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Copyright ©2008 Dustin Mooney. All rights reserved. This paper should not be republished as the work of someone else. Any use of this content without the written expressed consent of the author is prohibited.
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President Clinton Speaks About The Obama Campaign At UCF
It was a special day for students at the University of Central Florida as the former President of the United States Bill Clinton came to rally support behind Barack Obama. There were a lot of speakers before Bill Clinton arrived. This was his first major stump speech since the Democratic National Convention.
His support for Obama has wavered from the get-go but this speech affirmed his support. There were moments when you could tell that he did not fully believe what he was saying but either way his speech was extremely powerful. He spoke about how Obama’s plan was better after reviewing every piece of paper from each campaign.
There were two points in the speech that I thought were awesome. Both related to him not really wanting to be there and his unwavering support. Other than those few points I felt like the Obama camp should have been pleased with the results of the speech.
He continued to compare his administration with the plans of the Obama campaign. He spoke of how the Obama camp is using many of Clinton’s advisers to deal with the problems during this tough time. The speech ended with a bang from the emotionally charged speaker. The crowd was going wild throughout the entire speech. It was my first time seeing a President speak and I really enjoyed it.
Bob Barr Speaks to UCF Student
About a week and a half ago I got the chance to sit in on a speech given by Bob Barr who is running for President on the Libertarian ticket. He walked in nearly twenty minutes late to a great applause by the three hundred or so onlookers and took his position at the podium which had a lamanated “Bob Barr 08″ poster taped to it.
One of the first issues he addressed was how he was getting very liitle media coverage, and how that made it hard for people to take him seriously as a presidential candidate. This former congressman talked about the two party status quo and how there are a lot of people out there that believe that voting for a third party candidate is a “wasted” vote.
There might be some wisdom behind his rants. Looking back, George Washington once stated that the worst thing for the United States is a two party system. This seems to hint at what Bob Barr wants to do, which is open up the political system in the United States.
One of his next points was about the debates. He was extremely frustrated that he was not invited to the debates. He claimed that the debates are controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties and they refuse to let third party candidates in to compete. He stated that this affair was outragous and should not be allowed.
Finally begining to relax Bob Barr began speaking about the economic debocle that the country is currently facing and spoke about the $700 Billion (which he rounded to $1 Trillion) bail out that Washington is proposing. He seemed to be against it.
Throughout the speech he spoke about numerous other issues from health care to the national debt and economics and national security.
I was enlightened by the third party perspective. I was also very happy that Bob Barr could make his way out to the Student Union of the University of Central Florida, I believe it have all that attended a broader view of the American political system.
BlogOrlando Wrap-Up
I attended BlogOrlando Saturday at Rollins College in Winter Haven, Florida. Coming from Tampa and then going home to Orlando, the traveling wasn’t terrible for me. But there were people from all over the United States and even Canada. BlogOrlando was in its third year of informational excellence and covered an aray of great topics.
While I was there I saw and met some great people. I was running late and didn’t arrive from Tampa to the small but extremely beautiful Rollins College campus until nearly 9AM. Upon walking in I was welcomed by Josh Hallett the unconferences coordinator where he bestowed upon me a t-shirt and name tag. I began looking at the schedule which had an array of sessions. They held tons of different events, some sessions included: Southwest Airlines Blog, Flickr, Wordpress Basics and Advanced, Advanced and Basic Podcasting, Going Beyond Google, Twitter in Journalism, Hyperlocal, Politics, Shiny New Objects, The Orlando Scene, New New Media, and so on.
I unfortunately was not able to attend all of the sessions, there wasn’t enough of me to go around. Some personal high lights for me include the excellent keynote speech by Jake McKee. Jake works at LEGO Company and has single-handedly changed the companies ideology about social media and community organizing. He basicially gave a motivational speech about how to succed in both business (whether it be in the technology industry or not) and in life. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to connect with him again.
I then moved to the front of the auditorium for Frank Gruber’s presentation on Shiny New Objects. I an a friend of Frank’s and admire him a great deal. Although I am bias, I think his presentation was amazing. He basically spoke about all of the new Web 2.0 companies that he liked out there.This was somewhat hard for him because there was a $1 fine everytime the term “Web 2.0″ was used. He spoke about companies like: MyDropCard, Gmail, AwayFind, Facebook, Remember the Milk, Flickr, Vimeo, Animoto, YouTube, TypePad, WordPress, Tumblr, Evernote, MyDropBin, Mixx, Digg, SiteMeter, FeedBurner, Google Analytics, MyAOL, Google Alerts, FiltrBox, TwitterFeed, SocialThing, FriendFeed, Dopplr, Basecamp, Quicken Online and many others. I had an interest in just about all of these companies, so needless to say, this was an awesome session. After introducing and explaining these companies, Frank then proceded with Q&A, where we were all introduced to even more companies. This session was extremely helpful and interesting and their was a great vibe in the audience. You can see the full presentation here. You can also see Frank’s personal wrap-up on his blog here.
While at BlogOrlando I also got the chance to meet the ever lovely Sarah Perez, better known to some as “Sarah In Tampa” and/or a writer for ReadWriteWeb. She held the __ session, which was also very impressive. She took us through an eventful day in the life of a blogger. She threw out comparisions between bloggers and journalist while never claiming to be one. During her packed session in a Rollins College classroom. She took us through many of the same tools that Frank spoke of in a previous session and how she uses them to blog in her daily life. She use a lot of Google tools, include their custom search engine. Other tools of hers included Snackr, Twitter, Google Reader and a few others. This was a cool session and I was extremely happy I got to meet Sarah. It’s always great meeting someone from your hometown.
While I didn’t get to see any of his session, John Rife also attended and led the BlogOrlando event. John once again is a friend and an amazing guy, not to mention a podcasting and video guru, something he does simply as a hobbie. This year he gave the presentionation for the Video-A-Go-Go session. I didn’t make it around to see him this year, but if it was anything like last year, I am sure everyone was very impressed. I also got the chance to chat with John some more at the happy hour after-party.
Other great attendees included Judson Collier who lead a wonderful session at last years BlogOrlando. He is an extremely smart guy as well. Phil Gomes, Chris Thilik, Spike Jones, Chuck Welch, David Alston, Paula Berg, Alex Rudloff, David Parmet, Jeremy Harrington, and a lot of others also lead session at this years BlogOrlando.
After the closing session (which everyone attended) by Erik Hersman, who did an amazing job, most people shot over to Finnhenry’s for the BlogOrlando Happy Hour. As one said, “beers all around” (except for me)! This was probably my favorite part of the event, everyone stood around and chit-chatted about everything from technology to world events to sports. There is where I really got to talk with people about what I am working on and have been up to and learn about what they are up to, including some new work that should come to light soon!
After the happy hour and after-party I grabbed a late dinner at a local Thai restauant with Frank Gruber, Leah Jones (an awesome girl), Michael Anderson, Paula Berg, Alex De Carvalho, and David Alston (an awesome character). The food was good, but the conversation was great.
Overall I would say I had an amazing (I’ll be it an extremely long) day. Josh Hallett put on another amazing day for bloggers, journalist, techies, and normal people alike. I applaud him for taking a stand and keeping it free. Everything was perfect! I can’t wait for next year…
Letterman Demolishes McCain
Apparently McCain messed with the wrong man. As many of you know John McCain canceled his appearance on the Late Show to “rush” back to Washington to deal with the economic crisis not to long ago. Just after this happened Letterman made a roughly 9 minute long tirade about this event and how McCain had suspended his campaign.
“And now I’m just feeling like an ugly date. That’s what I feel like. I feel like an ugly date. I feel used. I feel cheap. I feel sullied,” Letterman exclaimed.
It is still unclear how this rant has affected the McCain camp now that the campaign has resumed, but I think it is safe to assume Senetor McCain isn’t loosing any sleep over it. Now that the bail out bill has been passed in both the house and senate it is unclear whether or not the move to suspend his campaign will be a successful one.
Letterman has since let off of McCain, it is unknown how the McCain camp is going to react over the long-term with other interviews on The Late Show. But if nothing else, this whole thing sure was funny.
Letterman Cracks Paris Who Reveals Big Secret
David Letterman had Paris Hilton on his show tonight. Letterman has been in the news the past day or so for his rants against John McCain who canceled on him at the last minute due to the economic crisis.
On tonight’s show Paris Hilton came out looking better than I have ever seen her look and chatted with Letterman for a few minutes. They spoke about her new boyfriend of seven months and the new perfume that she is coming out with. They also spoke about her new reality show premiering on MTV called I Wanna Be Paris’ New Best Friend. During the interview she revealed that the shooting for the show was completed and they had a winner. Dave threw in some snide remarks and pretty funny jokes. But he also grilled her about the winner. He asked her if she had seen the winner since the shooting had wrapped. Paris responded by saying that they had hung out and “she“ was a lot of fun. She also stated that they had a lot in common. Now the contestants are made up of both men and women so when she let it slip that the winner was a women, she let big news out. You know she had to feel bad, and even be wondering how much trouble she was in.
To bad, if nothing else I am sure we we can get another blond joke from this even some where. But I wanted to be the one to tell you that a women wins Paris Hilton’s new reality show on MTV.
After Letterman completed his interview she was then interviewed and completely insulted by Alan Kalter. In this informal interview which was apart of the Late Show, Alan also insulted Dave throwing in quite a few words which aren’t meant for cable. He thought Dave was just kissing up to her and then he tried to hit on Paris only then to totally reject her and storm off the set. It was an extremely funny skit which I don’t think even Paris was completely ready for.
REVIEW: Motorola H375 Universal Bluetooth Headset
I just bought the blue tooth ear piece for my Motorola Razr cell phone after some prodding by my friend. I got it from Best Buy for about $45. Now, I have only used it for a couple days, but so far I love it. There is a ton of funcionality considering that there are only four buttons and two of them only control volume and the other is the power button.
My main concern was the comfort but so far it hasn’t been a problem, in fact, this is one of the most comfortable headsets/earpieces I have ever worn.
The charger they provide is also awesome, it has two different attachments which will allow it to charge your headset from anywhere in the world. The attachments give you the ability to plug into any electrical socket.
The sound quality on both ends seems amazing. The only problem I have had was when I was in a large crowd. It obviously made it hard to hear, but there was also a lot of outside noise that they person on the other end could hear.
The headset hold its charge really well. I haven’t tested it to its full potiental but so far have not had a problem at all. According to Motorola, the headset holds its charge for over 8 days while on standby and according to them it has up to 6 hours of continous talk time. Motorola says that the headsets range is up to 33 feet and I would have to agree, I tried it at about that range, maybe a little further. There was a little problem with the sound getting fuzzy, crackly and distorted.
Some other features include the redial feature and an array of voice recognition tools. You can call someone using the voice recognition features, you can do various other stuff with the voice recognition system and other features as well.
I have really enjoyed being handfree since I have had the Motorola Bluetooth headset. I would totally recommend it to anyone who is thinking of getting one.
Hospital Daze And A Brief History (Of Me)
A brief background: I am 18 and was born without an esophagus and have had over 300 surgeries throughout my life, most of which were small like the one I had today, I currently have a surgery about every three months. After all of that, I have learned how to deal with doctors, although their questions still annoy me.
Why am I writing this? Well it started out, as most good blog post do, as a rant on how many times you have to answer the same stupid questions. But then, somewhere along the way, it changed. I realized that there might be some people out there (both young and old) that could be helped by my extensive medical experience. I try to focus on the little ones, because they are always the most scared. Since I go to a All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, all I see are little guys, and it’s hard for them (and there parents) to deal with the medical problems they are facing.
So from now on I am going to try to make a blog post whenever I go to the hospital (and maybe even a few more than that), to tell people what I am facing, to help them deal with their problems.
So far today, I have been asked if the name bracelet is right 138 times (which is a slight exaggeration), I have been asked what I am allergic to, how I’m feeling, why I am wheezing, if I am cold, and tons of others. My answers ranged from, yes my name band is correct, I am allergic to latex and nothing else, I don’t know why I am wheezing but I am guessing it has to do with being here, and yeah I’m cold you’re making me walk around a freezing hospital in my boxers and a stupid gown.
Not only did I have to undergo an barrage of annoying questions but I was poked and prodded more than most inmates. I had my temperature checked, was weighed, ear checked, oxygen level was checked, nose and throat were also check, not to mention the few hundred times they listened to my lungs, and a few other things I know I left out.
Why do they do this? Well besides the hopeful obvious reason of “your health”, they do it because of a simple one word answer: lawyers! The reason I know this is because my dad is a lawyer and he (and every other lawyer) are on them anytime they mess up. So I guess the questions are okay.
Now onto the real problem at hand. These questions are one thing, but the worse thing is when nurses (who often times aren’t to much older than I am… and I go to a children’s hospital) try and be funny. I had a nurse today that had to be the craziest one I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve seen my fair share. Instead of going through the questions she had normally, she tried to liven it up a bit. And maybe the first few times weren’t so bad… but after the third or fourth time, I was ready to break. She would ask questions like, are you still breastfeeding or using a bottle, do you use a diaper or pull-ups, and do you have any pacifiers or special toys you would like to take back to the operating room. She asked these questions after asking my age and if I was attending UCF (because I was wearing my UCF hat), because her brother is currently a student at UCF.
On the bright side the guys with M.D.’s where much better. My anesthesiologists (whom I had never had before) took my advice because he knew I was a veteran. I had been having some slight breathing and wheezing problems this morning, some of which are normal. He was worried and wasn’t sure if we should proceed with the surgery. I suggested that he call Dr. Rice (to the little one’s she is known as Dr. Rice Krispy) because she has been my anesthesiologists a ton of times, and I knew she would know how I would react to things, possibly even better than I would. My mom got onto me at first because she thought I was saying that I liked Dr. Rice better (and I do, but not because he was bad, just because she is awesome) and was questioning his knowledge, but I wasn’t, and once she realized she was okay with it. The best part of this little event was that he went right over to the phone and called Dr. Rice, who agreed with me. We were then able to proceed.
This anesthesiologists was cool, as week walked back to the operating room, we chatted about sports and a few other things. As we entered the room I told him I take my anesthesia, like I take all my stiff drinks (only joking), sitting up. He said okay, when a nurse would have complained, trust me, they have done it before. Why do they fight patients more? Because they don’t want the doc’s to get mad at them, the doc’s don’t have to worry about that.
As I was going to sleep, through the mask, as I always do since the alternative is a needle. The doc and I talked about UCF, sports, and news. This is the way all conversations should be. We covered numerous topics and all within a minute, before the buzz set it and I passed out. They are always nice to you, they give you a warm blanket and make you feel as comfortable as possible. They try to make a Day’s Inn feel like a Ritz Carlton. They also give you “flavors” that you can put in the mask, like grape and strawberry, although I usually go for the plain or what they call the nasty gym shoe smell (not really as bad as it sounds). Actually going to sleep isn’t the bad part, I kinda like it, might even be the best part (I am going to lose my mind when they finally make me use a needle), second would the the hot nurses .
Now to the worse part, waking up. Ask anyone, I am not a morning person, and adding anesthesia only makes it worse. I can honestly say that I’ve (at 18 years of age) have never had a hangover, but I imagine it feel a whole lot like waking up too anesthesia. Luckily we recently stumbled onto a miracle medicine that they now give me, it totally cures the awful headache I normally get when waking up from an operation. Today I slept for two hours after the surgery (I think that doc was a little to over zealous with his distribution of the anesthesia), one hour in post-op and one in the holding area. Once I wake up and clear my head, I am pretty much ready to go.
That was my day (and a normal day for me) when I have surgery. I am (as I said) going to continue posting about my hospital experiences in hopes that it might help someone!
The Caffeine Patch
This is what I need most of the days of my life. In fact, most days I could use about a hundred of them, just as she did. Maybe if there were less smokers, then those companies could afford to put money torward the R&D for “caffeine patches”. If they did that then maybe we wouldn’t have to pay $4 for a cup of Starbucks coffee. It’s just a thought…
The Art of the “Nap”
“I hate reposting, but I thought this article was to good to miss. I wanted everyone to read it. I got it from: MEN’S JOURNAL.COM and from PAUL STAMATIOU’S BLOG. Click the name of each for the link to each article.”
Snooze, You Win According to new studies, nothing tunes up mind and body like a good nap. But there’s an art to catching the right kind of z’s. 
When billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett broke the record for around-the-world solo jet flight last March, he slept just 60 minutes in 67 hours of flight time — 60 minutes broken into two- and three-minute naps. “I slept when I needed it and awoke refreshed,” he says. Fossett, who holds world records in ballooning, sailing, and flying, adds that none of his feats could have been done without these micro-variety “power naps.”
So what makes a power nap effective? Think of it as an investment with the greatest return in the least amount of time, a kind of super-efficient sleep that fits nicely in a high-pressure schedule: say, between business meetings or in the minutes before a game.
Napping in general benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair, says Dr. Sara Mednick, a scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies who is at the forefront of napping research. A power nap, says Mednick, simply maximizes these benefits by getting the sleeper into and out of rejuvenative sleep as fast as possible. No surprise that Lance Armstrong’s coach, Chris Carmichael, says that “naps were critical in his overall training plan.” In Manhattan, napping has become a lucrative business: MetroNaps in the Empire State Building provides darkened cot-like redoubts that attract Broadway actors between shows as well as investment bankers who otherwise would fall asleep at their desks. And in Iraq, U.S. Marine commanders have mandated a power nap before patrols.
Here’s how the power nap works: Sleep comes in five stages that recur cyclically throughout a typical night, and a power nap seeks to include just the first two of them. The initial stage features the sinking into sleep as electrical brain activity, eye and jaw-muscle movement, and respiration slow. The second is a light but restful sleep in which the body gets ready — lowering temperature, relaxing muscles further — for the entry into the deep and dreamless “slow-wave sleep,” or SWS, that occurs in stages three and four. Stage five, of course, is REM, when the eyes twitch and dreaming becomes intense.
The five stages repeat every 90 to 120 minutes. Stage one can last up to 10 minutes, stage two until the 20th minute. Extenuating circumstances, like manning the controls of a jet, aside, experts believe that the optimal power nap should roughly coincide with the first 20 minutes in order to give you full access to stage two’s restorative benefits. In addition to generally improving alertness and stamina, stage two is marked by a certain electrical signals in the nervous system that seem to solidify the connection between neurons involved in muscle memory. “It’s like a welding machine,” says Mednick. “When you wake up, your neurons perform the same function as before, but now faster and with more accuracy,” making the 20-minute nap indispensible to the hard-working athlete looking to straighten out his putter or baseline shot.
Mednick’s most recent research also shows that power naps can lift productivity and mood, lower stress, and improve memory and learning. In fact, Mednick has found through MRIs of nappers that brain activity stays high throughout the day with a nap; without one, it declines as the day wears on. Tell that to the boss next time he finds you passed out at your desk.
There is, however, a pitfall in all this sleeping around. You have to carefully time the duration of your nap in order to avoid waking in slow-wave sleep. This can produce what’s known as sleep inertia. That’s when the limbs feel like concrete, the eyes can’t focus, the speech is slurred, the mind is sluggish. Sleep inertia can ruin your day. You must keep the nap to 20 minutes or slightly less, and if you need the extra sleep, wait until the 50-minute mark. This will safely keep you on the power side of your nap.
Getting The Perfect Nap Everyone, no matter how high-strung, has the capacity to nap. But the conditions need to be right. Dr. Sara Mednick, who will publish a book on napping in the spring (tentatively titled Take Back the Nap!, Workman Publishing) has some helpful hints:
1. The first consideration is psychological: Recognize that you’re not being lazy; napping will make you more productive and more alert after you wake up.
2. Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.
3. Avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine as well as foods that are heavy in fat and sugar, which meddle with a person’s ability to fall asleep.
4. Instead, in the hour or two before your nap time, eat foods high in calcium and protein, which promote sleep.
5. Find a clean, quiet place where passersby and phones won’t disturb you.
6. Try to darken your nap zone, or wear an eyeshade. Darkness stimulates melatonin, the sleep- inducing hormone.
7. Remember that body temperature drops when you fall asleep. Raise the room temperature or use a blanket.
8. Once you are relaxed and in position to fall asleep, set your alarm for the desired duration (see below).
How Long Is A Good Nap?
THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 secondsSleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness. T
HE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutesIncludes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutesIncludes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles. By: Christopher Ketcham
**Illustration by: Eddie Guy (January 2006)
