I Think (And Write My Ass Off), Therefore I Nap
I'm working some crazy hours lately, and I'm doing it -- productively -- by napping. I wake up at 5 a.m., and on my non-deadline days, nap at around 10:30 or 11, setting my clock for 26 minutes (in case it takes me five minutes to fall asleep), then eat lunch. And then I work for about four more hours and nap for another 26 minutes, and then work into the evening (sometimes with one more brief nap in between).
Chileans are also working a lot of hours -- and napping, according to an AP story in the WaPo. They even go to special nap facilities where they pay for a nap room. (I just grab Lucy, bundle her up in some covers, like she likes, and crawl in my bed.)
A bit from the story:
Chileans work 2,068 hours a year, second only to South Koreans, among the 34 developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The number far surpasses the 1,695 hours U.S. workers average each year.All that work, and the stress that comes with it, means sleep suffers for many people. But on-the-job napping is frowned on, and siestas are viewed as a waste of time synonymous with sloth.
"I think when someone says: 'I'm going to take a siesta,' the rest brands them as lazy people who can't adjust to work hours," said Karin Schirmer, the owner of Espacio Siestario, which roughly means Siesta Place.
"We often feel like we need to spend a lot of hours at work to be socially accepted, but they're often unproductive," Schirmer said. "People assume that a siesta will be a waste of time but it's priceless. It's a bigger value than all the money you have at the bank."
Recent research has shown the benefits of a daytime snooze.
In its November 2009 issue of Harvard Health Letter, the university's medical school found that since 2000, researchers there and elsewhere have discovered "sleep improves learning, memory, and creative thinking."
"In many cases, the edifying sleep has come in the form of a nap," the article said.
Research has found that nighttime air traffic controllers improve their reaction time and vigilance when given 40 minutes for forty winks. A NASA-financed study by a team from the University of Pennsylvania found that letting people doze for 24 minutes increases cognitive performance.
Snoozing was widely debated in Chile when a lawmaker tried to implement legislation in 2003 to enshrine a 20-minute siesta as a right. He cited the napping habits of famous men such as Napoleon, Winston Churchill and Salvador Dali, and quoted Albert Einstein as praising the benefits of naps. But the project was scrapped and is ridiculed to this day.
One of my favorite Android apps:
Power Nap https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gits.powernap
And I have to admit, I am somewhat addicted to the Samsung Galaxy SII Good Morning ringtone:
http://audiko.net/ringtone/Samsung+Galaxy+S2/Good+Morning?ring=21763761
Anyway, the two together have a place of honor on my Samsung Galaxy SII's car dock.
jerry at March 4, 2013 11:09 PM
Long hours do not necessarily imply high productivity. In Asia, there are a lot of "sweatshop" companies, where good people work 12-14 hour days under extreme micromanagement. They work mechanically, with no imagination.
Talking about Asia is a horrible over-generalization, but let's run with it. Asian cultures tend to be very hierarchical. Workers must do exactly what the boss says, nothing more and nothing less. The boss is never wrong.
This may make sense when doing assembly line work, but it is utterly counterproductive for IT or any other type of work that requires thought and creativity.
a_random_guy at March 5, 2013 1:14 AM
Input is not the same as output, but you will get what you measure.
MarkD at March 5, 2013 5:41 AM
Dirty little secret: On days when I'm allowed to telecommute, I usually take a catnap in the afternoon. When I was younger I didn't like to sleep during the day because it made me groggy. But at some point, I found that if I kept it short, 20 minutes or so, that didn't happen and I usually woke up feeling better. It's not a really deep sleep; I remain aware at some level of things around me. And, unless I'm really sleep-deprived, I wake back up on my own before too much time passes.
Cousin Dave at March 5, 2013 6:46 AM
Naps can be good or can be bad. Much depends on how long the nap is, in relation to how deep the sleep is. I know with me, the time it takes for mae to fall asleep is too variable for them to work well.
Joe J at March 5, 2013 6:46 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/03/05/i_think_and_wri.html#comment-3632728">comment from Joe Jthe time it takes for mae to fall asleep is too variable for them to work well.
I took a yoga class once. Hated it. But, I learned to slow down my breathing, which is how I can fall asleep when I want. Try that.
I also use these wonderful asshole-canceling headphones Gregg got me, and manage to sleep on my side while wearing them by using an airplane pillow with the hole in the center.
Amy Alkon
at March 5, 2013 7:05 AM
For me, a nap works best when I'm comfortable, but not too comfortable. I'll leave a light on, and even if I lie down on the bed, I won't use any blankets. That keeps me from dozing off too deeply or too long.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at March 5, 2013 8:39 AM
I am actually the master at power naps. It helps that I can nap pretty much anywhere. I work a day job and also have theatre gigs at night so learning to catch a few zzz's when I can has become an art form for me. I have a pretty good internal alarm clock, too, so I while I set an alarm to be safe, I rarely need it.
Today, I took a nap on my lunch break. I went into my bosses office as she's out today, put my head down and let myself just doze off for about 20 minutes. It was glorious. I will probably not need my 3pm coffee now (although I'll drink it anyway cuz I like coffee).
Sabrina at March 5, 2013 10:20 AM
Teach me, Amy! I like your tip about yoga breathing...I've tried that as well. I also often have trouble switching my mind off from the tasks I still have to finish, so to combat that when I need to fall asleep, I focus on an imaginary house and the things in it -- a soothing place.
My big problem is I can't wake up so easily. I nap rarely and when I do, it seems I drift off for one to two hours. Then I feel like I've wasted a good chunk of the day and I wake up still groggy and tired. This is often on weekends when I'm already exhausted and sleep-deprived from the accumulation of the week, so maybe that's the root problem...more rest, spread out better, will help me nap for shorter amounts of time. Some of the most refreshing naps I've had were a few minutes snatched in the passenger seat of a car, when I was woken before I fell deeply asleep.
Hannah Sternberg at March 7, 2013 8:04 AM
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