LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Students in Southern New Mexico are learning that often a short nap can save a day that isn’t going right.
Two high schools in the Las Cruces Public Schools district and two in the Gadsden Independent School District are using sleep pods — EnergyPods made by MetroNaps. The high-tech pods, a reclined chair with a domed sensory-reduction bubble that closes around one’s head and torso, were purchased through grants from the New Mexico Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico to be used in the school-based health centers.
The pods, which vary a little from school to school, generally feature a one-touch start button which activates a relaxing sequence of music and soothing lights. Some have headphones for nappers to wear. At the end of 20 minutes, the pod begins to vibrate gently and an up-tempo beat gradually starts playing to wake the student.
Currently, LCPS and GISD are the only school districts in the nation using the pods.
The first one, purchased in 2008, was installed at Gadsden High School. Linda Summers, an associate professor in the School of Nursing at New Mexico State University, helped secure the grant after discovering the pods, which, at the time, were being used in a sleep lounge in the basement of the Empire State Building.
“Tired New Yorkers would go down there for a short nap in the middle of the day,” she said.
A MULTITUDE OF USES
Summers, meanwhile, was looking for something better than cots to help students coming to school insufficiently rested. As soon as the sleep pod arrived at the school-based health center, she began learning it had other benefits.
