Your Power Nap

When billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett broke the record for around-the-world solo jet flight in 2005, 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 said. Fossett, whose world records in ballooning, sailing and flying still stand, added that none of his feats could have been done without these micro-variety "power naps."

 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. 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 mandated a power nap before patrols.