Why you should be napping right now
More and more studies are published every day on the exceptional benefits of napping. Today I found a great link on del.icio.us that gives a great overview of different lengths of nap times and their benefits on cognition. Naps reduce stress, increase alertness and productivity, boost memory and learning, stimulate creativity, and boost the immune system, among other things.
It’s too bad that so much productivity in America is lost due to under sleeping. If only we could nap at work. What if every office had a room full of beds that could be used for 20-45 minutes for an afternoon nap? How much productivity would we gain? How much happier would people be? These are interesting questions to ask, and difficult results to measure.
A while ago, I read about a company called MetroNaps that provided sleep furniture for offices. On their website, they quote the medical director of Proctor & Gamble with a positive review of their service. While the MetroNaps pods cost around $8000, a much cheaper solution can be implemented with a simple bed or couch, and perhaps a free laundry service that provided clean sheets.
Of course, having a place to sleep is one thing, but getting acceptance from your colleagues that you will be taking a nap, something that may be judged as lazy, is quite another. For that we need a culture shift, not easy to achieve, but it has to start with education about the benefits of napping. I look forward to more studies that better quantify the productivity hours gained from a simple mid-day nap.
More links on napping:
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