Let's face facts: Everyone has their own way of making it through the current economic crisis. Justifiably afraid of losing our jobs, some of us are working harder, desperately trying to convince our bosses that we are indispensable. Other folks have decided that the best way to respond to recession is to go beyond their job description to master arcane, but essential talents, such an ability to program the office coffee maker or a knack for detailing the boss's Jaguar.

Certainly, I understand such reactions, but I have a different take on the matter. The way I'm getting through these scary times utilizes a technique I learned at Harvard Business School. No, actually, I learned it in kindergarten -- I'm rolling out my little mat, closing my little eyes and taking lots of big fat naps.

My decision to nap my way through our economic horror story comes from Eleanor Smith, a writer for the Special Ideas Report on The Atlantic website. I'm not quite sure that the idea of napping at work is really so "special" -- some of us have been doing it for years -- but it is comforting to find reinforcement in the blogosphere for a technique that traditional workplace spoilsports have judged to be unproductive, unhealthy and un-American.

But that Neanderthal attitude may be changing. As Ms. Smith writes, "every couple of months, it seems, another article appears extolling the benefits of taking short naps. Depending on their length, naps are said to boost productivity, memory and problem-solving abilities, not to mention enhance weight loss, reduce stress and lower the risk of heart disease."

If you've missed these articles, it may be because you've been busy sleeping. And who can blame you? If a short nap has all these benefits, you'd be a fool to deny yourself the health-giving benefits of a great whopping snooze.

Of course, the problem with stretching out the marginally acceptable workplace nap into a full-fledged slumber party is that not many firms are as evolved as, say, the management of Google. According to Smith, Google "offers their employees use of futuristic-looking nap-pods," which "recline, provide partial privacy, play music and gently wake you up with vibrations after a predetermined time."

I'm not sure you would enjoy being woken from a peaceful sleep by an earthquake in your pod, but it sure beats the usual form of an office alarm clock -- the boss screaming in your ear that you're a shiftless, useless, drain on the company's coffers.

Another highly advanced company that Smith unearthed is Monitor, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., which provides nap rooms for its employees. It's not such an unusual idea. Chances are, your company already has nap rooms. They're called executive offices.

Unfortunately, Google and Monitor are the exceptions to the rules. Even Smith's own employer, the Atlantic Media Co., "states in its Employee Handbook that sleeping, along with committing a felony and possessing explosives on company property, is grounds for dismissal."

Is napping a felony? I say when mattresses are illegal, only criminals will have mattresses. Besides, a company that makes sleeping a felony will probably also deny you other basic employee benefits, like the rights to wear your Speedo at work or raise earthworms in your file cabinet.

If management won't listen to reason, you'll simply have to take the initiative and do your napping on the down low. Literally. You could crawl under your desk, but why not take it to the next level? Peel back the carpet and slip right in. Sooner or later, a supervisor may notice your lumpy cubical floor, but by that time, you'll be totally rested and so full of REM sleep that you can vigorously deny the whole thing.

Just be careful that you don't tip your hand. Wearing your pajamas to work or walking in with your pillow and blanky under your arm, could signal to an observant manager that your plans for the day include less doing and more dozing.

While you may end up using trickery to get your rightful nap time, you could start by trying to reason with management. Point out that any time you spend napping on the job is time that you are not making expensive blunders. Also, if you are asleep, you can't play video games, or download YouTube videos of rhinos mating, or make crank phone calls to the CFO.

Here's a slogan you can use to sell the idea: "When I snooze, the company can't lose."