You might have noticed -- well, actually, I'm hoping you didn't -- that I've been fighting a fierce daily battle with fatigue. Around 3 p.m. I start to get a little bleary-eyed, and it takes every ounce of my strength not to use my goose-down parka as a pillow and cosy up under my desk, George Costanza-style. Instead I dose up on the caffeinated sludge they sell in the barfeteria, and while I wait for that to kick in all I'm really capable of is surfing Perez Hilton.

I dropped a book off to your assistant that I'd like you to read. It's called Take a Nap! Change Your Life. Don't be put off by the exclamation point: This book is based on hard science that proves we can improve the quality of our waking hours by sleeping more. Don't worry, it's not a title aimed at the slackers who want to refine their siesta skills.

She just lies down under her desk (the person she shares her office with doesn't mind), and if her post-doc adviser isn't using his office, she'll go in there. Hint, hint. And if she has a meeting outside the office, she'll arrive 15 minutes early and take a snooze in her car. For those with a one-hour lunch break, she suggests they use half that time for eating and the other half for napping.