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Perry lies down on job

His mission: Investigate ISPA nap center

David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 4, 2008

LAS VEGAS — My assignment: Sleep on the job.

OK, I know that many of my mattress friends might slyly suggest that I have been snoozing at work anyway as Furniture/Today’s bedding editor. But could I really, literally, enter dreamland as part of an official assignment?

The International Sleep Products Assn.’s Media Recharging Center, open during last week’s Las Vegas Market, raised that intriguing possibility.

The center was a brainstorm of ISPA. It offered credentialed journalists a chance to take a 20-minute or 40-minute nap on one of a dozen types of sleep surfaces, ranging from the time-tested innerspring bedding to newcomers including memory foam, air, gel and even magnetic beds.

The center was open for business — er, naps — in the World Market Center, B-230.

In addition to a few zzz’s, the center also offered insights on the importance of a good night’s sleep from a group of sleep experts, including Bert Jacobson, a professor at Oklahoma State University who led a study that confirmed the benefits of sleeping on a new sleep set, and Nancy Shark, executive director of ISPA’s Better Sleep Council.

Jacobson and Shark invited me into the nap room of my choice, where I got comfortable on a bed. Because I don’t want this to sound like an endorsement, let’s say it was made by company X and offers a sleep system that features Y. It cradled my body, letting me relax. Would X and Y produce zzz’s?

I closed my eyes, curled up on my side — yes, I am a side sleeper — and tried to sleep. A host of worries bedeviled me. I couldn’t shake those pesky thoughts of deadlines, looming appointments, and assorted market challenges. After lying quietly in my cozy nap room for several minutes, I gave up on my dreams of dreaming. Sheepishly, I reported back to the lobby and told my hosts I just couldn’t nod off.

Jacobson offered me solace. “Even if you didn’t sleep,” he said, “you did unplug.”

Shark talked soothingly of the Recharging Center offering an oasis of calm amidst the excitement of market.

She was right. For several delicious minutes, I had escaped insistent mattress executives and pushy PR types and demanding editors — sorry boss, no offense intended. I had found peace and quiet and a comfortable place to lay my weary body. Yes, I did recharge my market batteries.

And now I know that sleeping on the job is harder than it looks.

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Perry lies down on job

Feb 10, 2008

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