Now I'm not quite as embarrassed...

Throughout college, I regularly took naps during the daytime in campus classroom buildings, even when I lived on campus. If I couldn't find an empty bench or set of chairs, I would occasionally find a less-traveled part of a corridor to rest on. I safeguarded my belongings by using my backback as my pillow, and my winter coat became my blanket. I probably didn't add to the aesthetic appeal of my university. But, according to this article, Findings Suggest That A Biphasic Sleep Schedule Not Only Refreshes The Mind, But Can Make You Smarter, I was helping my knowledge acquisition abilities.

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.
Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become, according to the findings. The results support previous data from the same research team that pulling an all-nighter - a common practice at college during midterms and finals - decreases the ability to cram in new facts by nearly 40 percent, due to a shutdown of brain regions during sleep deprivation.

I felt that all-night cramming was counterproductive, so I didn't do that. But I took the naps simply because I was so tired. I'm glad they had a beneficial effect on my brain and my GPA. Now if I could only convince my children to let me take a midday siesta....