Power Sleep, preface by Jacques Chirac
It was with a little astonishment that I welcomed Bruno Comby’s proposal to write a preface to his “Power Sleep”, a little fun too, because I kept in mind Mr. Comby’s recipes for live better: in particular, his culinary preparations based on insects, it seems delicious, to whose temptation I admit, to my great shame, that I have not yet given in …
But, come to think of it, starting from my experience of the nap, of all that it brings me and all that it allows me in my schedule, this idea of a work which would be, to at the same time, an encouragement to practice the nap and a user manual finally won me over. On condition, however, to be understood.
And it is not easy with us where the evocation of rest often arouses jokes. We only have to remember how much our popular humor likes to mock the nap and those who practice it. We will continue, for a long time no doubt, to smile at the supposed laziness of the Latins who have observed, since ancient times, this early afternoon break when the heat makes any activity painful. Yet how awkward it is to confuse sleep with laziness!
Rest is serious business, the quality of which conditions our existence. Many religions have made sleep sacred, of which Charles Péguy wrote that he is “the friend of God [and] of man”. The ancients knew that the key to dreams is also that of balance and happiness, and recommended the practice of naps.
It is in fact that it greatly facilitates the life of those who practice it regularly, either that it simply rests them, or even, I can attest, that it grants them, to work, the extraordinary niches of intellectual efficiency of the night.
Among our illustrious contemporaries, André Gide, who was a fervent follower, admitted to devoting two hours a day, sometimes more, to it, and derived great satisfaction from it.
There are biological reasons for this, and Bruno Comby endeavors to analyze them with all his scientific rigor, by shaking up in the process, as he is used to, some received ideas.
No, the nap does not affect the night’s sleep. On the contrary, the author advises to split the sleep, to obey the natural rhythms of the organism which can then be satisfied with shortened nights.
Yes, the nap is a recipe for balance within everyone’s reach, when we know that only one quarter of an hour of good rest is enough to repair the greatest fatigue.
More than praise, Bruno Comby’s book will be the precious partner of all men and women in a hurry who think that a twenty-four hour day is too short, and for others, a guide to new horizons of balance and genuine relaxation.
Jacques Chirac
President of the French Republic.