A nap a day will keep lost productivity at bay, says the author of a new book, who says sleeping can change your life.

Research on the benefits of napping should serve as a wake-up call for employers as the drain on businesses is staggering, says Harvard-trained research scientist Sara Mednick.

According to a Cornell University study, sleep-deprived workers cost U.S. industry $150 billion a year in reduced job productivity and fatigue-related accidents.

Sleep deprivation can also lead to a whole host of health problems such as increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, decreased libido and obesity, said Mednick, author of the book "Take a Nap! Change your life."

"What I found with napping research is actually that naps can actually help solve a lot of these problems," she told CTV's Canada AM.

Employers should sit up and take notice, says Mednick, who is an inveterate napper herself.

Mednick's research began six years ago when she was a graduate student at Harvard University. She survived her grueling schedule by slamming back shots of espresso and splashing cold water on her face.

But it was a nap on a shabby old couch in the department of psychology that changed her ways -- and the subject of her doctoral thesis.

'You snooze, you lose'

It's little wonder that sleep has become taboo in a society that regularly spouts platitudes like "if you snooze, you lose," or "the early bird gets the worm."

North American employees have become slaves to their BlackBerries, cellphones, and email, often forgoing a short nap in favour of a quick caffeine buzz.

"If you look at the rise of Starbucks across the 90s there was an amazing shift where suddenly they just exponentially increased their amount of stores," Mednick told CTV.ca.

"Not only are they pushing a market but there is also a market asking for it ... so I think what people are hoping is that they are going to supplement their sleep deprivation with caffeine," she said.

Employees are finding themselves increasingly starved for time during their waking hours, said Gary Baskerville, spokesperson for the Better Sleep Council Canada.

"The only way to pack in more waking hours is to sacrifice your sleeping hours," he told CTV.ca.

This is not to say employees are completely forgoing naps.

Research by Cornell University's James Maas, who is credited with coming up with the term "power nap," found that nearly four in 10 American workers admit to snoozing on the job.

Some napped in bathroom stalls, while others nodded at their desks - and under -- and still others curled up in their cars.

While some sneak naps, others turn to coffee to perk up. But caffeine stimulation is a misnomer, Mednick points out.

"Recent studies that I've been doing comparing napping to caffeine actually shows that on all of the memory tests the caffeine drinkers compared to the nappers are showing decreases in their performance," Mednick said.

"You are actually feeling a buzz but it may not really be helping you in your mental capacity in your ability to think clearly, in your ability to make accurate answers," she said.

The new coffee break?

Napping could eventually become the new coffee break, she says.

"It's a slow change for sure. In the same way (with) telecommuting, people in the '80s and 90s asked to start working at home and it seemed like a revolutionary idea, but slowly but surely these things started to catch on," she said.

Indeed, more and more employees are being encouraged to sleep on the job with their bosses' blessing.

The Pathumwan district office in central Bangkok, for example, invites civil servants to take a midday snooze in a room with soft music and sweet-smelling flowers.

Some cities in Denmark and Germany have even passed bylaws that uphold citizens' rights to take naps, Mednick said.

Corporate America is also seeing a small but growing movement to address the consequences of a not-so indefatigable workforce.

Cynthia McKay, CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Basket in Castle Rock, Colo., has made napping a part of her workplace culture.

In one of two sleep areas in the company's offices, employees can doze off for 15 to 30 minutes on a foldout couch or single cot.

Meanwhile the offices of Kaye/Bassman, a corporate headhunting firm in Dallas, feature a relaxation room with US$4,500 massage chairs, headphones and a four-way light dimmer.

For a society whose routine doesn't include slowing down, taking a break, learning to nap may take some getting used to, Mednick said.

"We are actually creatures of habit, and creatures of ritual, so you need to start creating a little bit of conditioning for your body and tell yourself 'Now I'm going to step away from my desk, maybe loosen my

tie ... dim the lights, just start telling yourself now is the time where I can take a nice legitimate nap and be much more productive for the rest of the day," she said.

A typical working person will find that they start to become sleepy-eyed by mid-afternoon when their natural circadian rhythms kick in, says Baskerville.

"They start to become tired, listless, look at their watch, try to measure how soon they can leave the office," he told CTV.ca.

"So a person with a lack of sleep and accumulated sleep debt generally feels most tired at the end of their day because they've expended their physical and mental energies earlier in the day," he said.

Society will need to wake up to the benefits of sleep for it to become a priority, Baskerville says.

"I think as people recognize that their home life and work life are affected by the quality and quantity of sleep, and the negative effects become cumulative and more obvious, then people will begin to pay more attention to the importance of a full night's sleep."