Special attire for napping? What we could really use is a line of clothing for mowing

Lee Ostaszewski
Guest Columnist

I saw an article on CNN’s website about something called a Nap Dress. This intrigued me because I think of a nap as a spontaneous event, never planned to the point you need special clothing.

Why would anyone dress up to take a nap?

But I know people who are avid nap aficionados. Maybe they do dress for it. I know they think of napping the way I think of lunch, as a normal part of their day.

I’m the opposite. For me naps just happen. Mostly they happen when I make the mistake of sitting down during the day. Most days I stand all the time. At work, I use a standup desk. On weekends, I rarely sit down until later in the day.

Retired couple taking a relaxing nap.

The only days I sit for most of the time is at the beach during the summer.  Then I rarely get out of my beach chair.

Otherwise, I don’t sit much. On the weekends, it could be late afternoon before I sit down. Usually, it is to relax with a beverage or watch a sporting event on TV. This is when I’m most at risk of accidentally dozing off.

Not that I couldn’t nod off while standing, either. I definitely could. I just haven’t yet.

In any case, I would never consider special attire was needed to nap. In fact, my view on napping is that you must remain in the clothes you were wearing while awake.

You shouldn’t lie down in bed, either. If you change into pajamas and climb into bed, then that’s way past being a nap. It approaches actively trying to fall asleep.

Naps are something that happens when you are pretending to be awake.

There is one specific situation when I do intentionally nap. It happens some Saturday late afternoons or early evenings when we have plans to go out.

With the pandemic, it has been a year since I’ve had a reason to nap in this way.

What I remember of it, these were strategic power naps to get me past the sleepiness that I could feel creeping in.

The power naps generally take place during that awkward period when all I am doing is waiting to go out. Typically, this is about 15 minutes before we are leaving. Just enough time for me to sit down, close my eyes and drop off for a solid 10 or so minutes of a refreshing snooze.

To reiterate, I would never think to change clothes to power nap. That would defeat the purpose, really.

The idea of anyone over the age of three having specific nap clothes seems odd and why I was intrigued to read about it.

Turns out nap dresses are not just for napping. This was simply the name one clothing designer put on it. Basically, a nap dress is any comfortable, casual dress women might wear around the house, but nice enough to go out in.

Here’s where in the past I would point out how “guys” don’t need special clothes to hang around the house in on the weekends. Us “guys” would simply put on a pair of old sweat pants and a t-shirt from a long ago Who concert.

I acknowledge now that many women would feel just as comfortable in sweats and a tee shirt. It’s not a guy thing.

With lawn care duties on the horizon, I wish someone would come out with specialty clothes I could use: a line of Mowing Clothes. Then I’d really be intrigued.

Lee lives in Medway. Email him at lee.online@verizon.net.

Lee Ostaszewski