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Innovation

Get paid to sleep

Dream job?
Written by Mark Halper, Contributor
dreaming-about-money-hiphopaffirmations.jpg
Dreams can come true, by dreaming.

Today is World Sleep Day, and there's a lot of waking activity going on.

For instance, when I opened my eyes wide enough to look at my emails this morning, I had a message from Royal Philips Electronics. They've kicked off a five-year program providing free online screening for sleep apnea, a condition characterized by snoring that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, depression and other bummers.

So I got to thinking: With sleep research a boom industry, are there labs that will pay human guinea pigs to slumber? Can we weary mortals get cash for snoozing?

The answer, as someone once so alertly proclaimed, is yes we can!

"Believe it or not, there are ways to get paid while you sleep," says the website eHow. "You probably can't get rich from any of these endeavors, but they can help to supplement your daytime income or pay bills between jobs. Many of them also allow you to follow a normal routine during the day."

The site is short on detail and long on general advice. It notes that there's a paycheck waiting if you're willing to enter a sleep center for a few nights and show off your insomnia, narcolepsy, apnea or whatever else you might have to offer. That could include deep, sound sleeping.

How do you find these gigs? The answer from eHow: peruse local newspapers, the Craigslist classified advertising website, and the web pages of universities and medical centers for opportunities.

An unidentified writer on the HubPages website says he (she?) earned $3,000 for a nine-day sleep stint at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, after answering a Craigslist ad seeking healthy sleepers. The remuneration also required three weeks leading up to the stay and a couple of preliminary visits.

There you go. Sounds like a reasonable and more profitable, albeit more drawn out, alternative to selling your blood.

I admittedly haven't done exhaustive research on this subject. I'd have to get some more sleep first. But consider this blog post as a starter kit to finding your, er, dream job. And please feel free to write in below with your own insights on raising revenue while in bed.

Uh oh.

Image from hiphopaffirmations.com

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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