I'm getting tired of reading about naps.

For some odd reason, there's been an uptick in news about nap studies lately. Some of it seems geared toward removing the cruel stigma associated with taking a nap during working hours - and I'm all for that.

First it was the French. On Jan. 29, Health Minister Xavier Bertrand announced plans to spend $9 million this year to improve public awareness of sleeping troubles, which he said afflict a third of the population there. Fifty-six percent of the French claim that a poor night's sleep adversely affects their job performance, he said.

"Why not a nap at work?" Bertrand said. "It can't be a taboo subject." (The most famous Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte, reportedly once said that the correct amount of sleep is "six hours a night for men, seven for women and eight for fools.")

In mid-February, the Greeks weighed in. The Archives of Internal Medicine published the results of a six-year study involving nearly 24,000 Greek men and women. The conclusion: People who napped 30 minutes a day, three times a week, were 37 percent less likely to die of a heart attack.

On Feb. 16, USA Today ran a story that mentioned MetroNaps, a company that opened a "sleep sanctuary" on the 24th floor of the Empire State Building. You get to nap in a "pod," which awakens you with gentle vibrations after 20 minutes, for only $14.

Last week, The Associated Press ran a story about sleep scientist Sara Mednick from the University of California-San Diego. She wrote a book - Take A Nap! Change Your Life! - that says a 20-minute nap at the office is better than a 20-minute coffee break. It improves productivity and interaction with co-workers, Mednick concludes.

These news reports on napping even found their way onto our comics pages this week, with the coffee shop employee in Rudy Park telling his boss about the Greek study that says people who nap "are 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack."

His boss's response: "Also 80 percent more likely to get fired."

And that, I'm afraid, is how most bosses - myself included - would react. But in the spirit of fostering better employee relations, I offer a list of excuses to give your boss should you be caught napping. A friend sent it to me, and I have since found versions on the Internet. Some of them might even work:

• "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."

• "This is just a 15-minute power nap like they raved about in the management course you sent me to."

• "Whew! Guess I left the top off the white-out!"

• "I wasn't sleeping, I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm."

• "I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance."

• "I was doing a highly specific yoga exercise to relieve work-related stress. Are you discriminating against people who practice yoga?"

• "Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."

• "Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot."

• "Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won't wear off."

• "Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the workaholic!"

Finally, my personal favorite:

• "This doesn't begin to make up for the six hours last night when I dreamed about work!"

Business editor Rob Reuteman can be reached at 303-954-5177 or reutemanr@RockyMountainNews.com.