Uncle Jason's Research

Here is an article from the Vancouver Sun to prove that Uncle Jason does work.

The link is a bit slow so here it is:

Research team hopes to prove the power of a nap
Study will take a look at whether employee productivity enhanced by siestas
Ken Meaney, Canwest News ServicePublished: Friday, May 30, 2008

It's 3 p.m., your eyelids are drooping and the boss is glaring because you yawned in her face. Do you have a coffee and buckle down at your work, or do you take a nap?
A research team in Halifax thinks the answer may be to nap. Jason Ivanoff of St. Mary's University is studying the power of power naps to give flagging employees a boost.
"Some people actually argue that we're built for siestas, but as part of our culture we don't sleep in the afternoons," said Ivanoff, who cheerfully admits he doesn't nap himself.
Ivanoff and his colleagues, Ben Rusak of Dalhousie University and Chris Bowen of the National Research Council, are studying how naps -- either long ones of two hours or short power naps of 20 minutes -- might help reverse the effects of lost sleep.
"The idea behind napping is you have a little sleep and when you wake up ... productivity could increase then because you now feel rejuvenated," he said.
"We have a limited bit of time during the day, so something's got to give. You can either take away personal time, spend less time eating or with the kids or playing in the evening, or the only other thing left is sleep," he said. "And many of us don't want to give up watching a hockey game in the evening. Instead, we give up sleep and that starts to accumulate ... and we're not necessarily aware of how sleep-deprived we are."
Although napping is often viewed as a sign of laziness, Ivanoff says some companies -- particularly in the creative or high-tech sectors -- have learned that "nap centres" at work pay off.
Ivanoff's test subjects will be divided into three groups, starting this fall. The first will have a full night's sleep, the second no sleep and the third will be sleep-deprived, but they'll get a nap -- either two hours or a power nap of 20 minutes.
They'll perform simple tasks -- such as pressing a button if they see a square, but not pressing a button if they see a circle. And their brain function will be monitored to show how much mental effort it takes to complete the task.
"The more you're sleep-deprived the more effort it takes to do something," Ivanoff said. "What we're predicting is if this idea is correct, that it will take less effort to do the task after a nap."
The study should have applications in any job that requires decision-making by people who are awake for long periods. "Even while driving. If you're chronically sleep-deprived, little decisions -- like 'do I try to speed though this yellow light right now?' -- that kind of decision. So I think it is far-reaching."
© The Vancouver Sun 2008