Many bosses expect us to arrive at the office in the morning, hunker down at our desks, and stay there until the end of the day when we get to go home (as long as we have  our BlackBerries with us, so we’re not totally out of touch).  A walk around the office is a luxury, lunch away from our desks is a treat, and a nap is simply unheard of.

However, some companies are recognizing that their sleep-deprived employees might need time out during the day to renew and recharge. Last week, Businessweek did an article highlighting the growing popularity of encouraging workers to take daytime naps. "A short nap in the afternoon will get rid of sleepiness without interfering with nighttime sleep," Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University in England, was quoted as saying.

Some companies who have embraced the idea of daytime shut-eye:

• Nike has introduced “quiet rooms” which employees can use for short naps or meditation
• Google, Procter & Gamble, and Cisco have futuristic “sleeping pods” designed by MetroNaps
• Continental Airlines and British airways allow pilots to take naps during long flights
• Jawa, a small technology company in Arizona, has two resting rooms, one with a sleeping pod and one with a couch
• Hearst, Newsweek, and Time Warner all use a napping spa called Yelo in midtown Manhattan for their employees to get quiet time

The article goes on to give some good tips for getting the most out of your daytime nap.

1. Find the right time and place: Most people find a nap most refreshing in the early afternoon, when our energy is starting to ebb. It is important to find a quiet place to rest, so if your company doesn’t have a specific place designed for sleep, a car might be your best bet.
2. Create the right conditions: A dark, warm, quiet environment provides the best environment for us to get rest, so try using a sleep mask or shutting the blinds, turning up the temperature or using a blanket, and turning off your cell phone!
3. Avoid substances that might interfere with sleep: Coffee, soda, diet pills, and even meat and dairy, can keep you up when you’re trying to get a much-needed snooze.