10 ms·

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. It's frustrating - because it's not logical, it's just pretty deeply

by nlh 13y ago

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. It's frustrating - because it's not logical, it's just pretty deeply ingrained. I set up a (rather nice) nap room at my company's office and I'm the only person who EVER uses it. It turned into a storage room. I sent articles about the virtues of napping - the studies - the benefits - the facts - to all of my employees, and nobody seems to care. I _still_ get an eye-roll when I head off to the nap room in the middle of the day for a 20-minute power nap. Meanwhile, the employees in the office just head to the espresso machine and down shot after shot to keep themselves lit up. It's so odd - I can explain 100 times over how I get all the benefits of caffeine (and MORE) by taking a 20-minute nap, and they just don't seem to care. Deeply ingrained, hard-to-change views.

rfnslyr 13y ago
Could you link some? I want to read more about sleep in general. Why 20 minutes? Why not 30, or 40? I keep seeing the magical 20 everywhere.
- larrys 13y ago
  Has something to do with sleep cycles. But don't worry about what is written. Just give it a try and see how much you naturally sleep for and when you wake up and go from there. This can be as simple as just laying your head down on a desk with an eye patch and ear plugs. Airline tarmack type ear muffs also work well for this and completely block out most noise. Everyone is different. I don't care much for what has been written about this I just experiment and have found what works for me. I have been doing this from way before there were even things written or it was something that was even considered a strategy. To me it just made sense. I don't really care what others do or whether they think it's good or bad.
- hfsktr 13y ago
  I recall reading that anything over an hour disrupts your sleep pattern. 20 minutes might be a magical number for best effects. It also might be the length of a lunch someone gives up to nap after eating (or could be the full lunch).
- nlh 13y ago
  This is the one that comes to mind off the top of my head (and Google), but I know I've seen about 6 articles over the past few years: http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Graphic/2008/06/14/1213462663_8520-1.gif http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Graphic/2008/06/...
- mtrimpe 13y ago
  It's more about not going into deep sleep, which would start around half an hour for most people.
enraged_camel 13y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, there is no reason why you should need 20-minute "power naps" in the middle of the day. (There may be exceptions, such as extremely demanding manual labor, but I think we're talking about white collar jobs in this context.)
- larrys 13y ago
  "but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night" Ideally yes. But there are times that even with the best intentions that can't be done. Anxiety, sickness, some important schedule issue. Maybe a big lunch that you shouldn't have eaten. Naps work very well for rejuvenation.
  - akinity 13y ago
    Very few people are getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, especially people with sedentary jobs.
- nlh 13y ago
  Not for me. I can get 10 hours of sleep at night but I'll still hit an afternoon lull post-lunch. I'm sure if I really worked at it I could figure out why (too big a lunch? blood sugar spike?) but regardless, I'm good to go for 6+ more hours w/ a 20-minute nap. Meanwhile everyone else sits and forces their eyelids open, stares at YouTube videos, and downs espresso shots...
  - graeme 13y ago
    This lull disappeared for me after I stopped eating wheat. Not saying you'd get the same effect from quitting wheat. But there's decent odds it's something you eat.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - 13y ago
peterwwillis 13y ago
There's a "quiet room" in my office and I think i'm the only person that uses it. It's really nice to take a laptop, headphones and soda in there and just get work done without any distraction. And it has a window, with real light! There's also a "gaming room" which is now the storage room, but it still has a sofa and xbox that maybe somebody uses.
luckyno13 13y ago
I think its worth noting that this isn't just prevalent in the workforce, but before many individuals get to the workforce, the cram and jam lifestyle of college student start carving this rut long before they are employed. I have to assume after anywhere between 4-8 years (sometimes more) of late night, caffeinated (sometimes worse substances) cram sessions this type of mentality and habitually terrible sleeping would be difficult to get out of.
- mcb3k 13y ago
  This rut actually begins much earlier in some areas of the United States. Many high school students face early school start times and late nights of homework and studying. Add in sports, music lessons, extra curricular activities, or any combination thereof, and you get a recipe for sleep deprivation. Do that for 4 years of high school, and then 4-8 years of undergraduate/post-graduate/doctoral schooling, and you end up with some seriously sleepy people who have a hard time maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.
Aloisius 13y ago
Well some of us can't nap. I just lay there with my eyes closed for 20, 30 or even 40 minutes never coming remotely near unconsciousness.
- rjbwork 13y ago
  This is okay too. Just relax and don't think about anything in particular for a while.
  - jebblue 13y ago
    I end up thinking about how I'm not supposed to be thinking about anything.
    - jacalata 13y ago
      I have this problem and I count - straight '1,2,3' doesn't take enough focus so I do fizzbuzz or powers of two. It's quite calming.
    - fragsworth 13y ago
      Yeah, and it's not very relaxing.
- nickpinkston 13y ago
  Likewise, I just go to sleep early and wake up naturally at 7.
- pavel_lishin 13y ago
  It's worse for me. I fall asleep, then wake up groggy, often times with a headache. Every once in awhile I achieve the perfect nap - and that's usually in a noisy place, very well lit - and after it, I barely feel like I was really "asleep" - not the same way that I feel after I sleep in a dark room under a blanket.
  - thomasahle 13y ago
    Have you considered if you're waking up in the middle of a cycle? Maybe you could experiment with the length of the nap and/or cycle detecting apps or gear.
mildtrepidation 13y ago
The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. Perhaps I've just been extremely lucky not to have seen this, but I don't think it's a justified generalization. I've only worked at length in two states, MN and FL, but I have never seen anything overt to suggest this is some sort of vastly applied cultural judgment.
CodeMage 13y ago
I suspect there might be something else at work here. Ask yourself this question: if you take a 20 minute nap at work, will that count as part of your working hours or not? Even at the places where employees are not expected to rigidly conform to fixed working hours, there's an expectation to put in a certain minimum of hours. I'm not talking about producing a certain output: even in the most "goal-oriented" places I've worked at, there was still an unstated, tacit expectation that you were supposed to put in a certain minimum of effort, regardless of your results. What I'm getting at is that if you have employees who nap and those who don't, there will almost certainly exist an expectation that those who nap should put in extra time equal to the length of their nap. Therefore, those who do nap will lose some of their free time. If you're single, that could be an acceptable bargain: instead of sleeping for (say) 8 hours at night, you would have a 20 minute nap at the office, stay 20 minutes longer and then sleep for 6 hours at night. The net gain would be 80 minutes, which isn't bad at all. On the other hand, if you're a family person, then that's 20 minutes less with (say) your kid after school.
yetanotherphd 13y ago
For my part, I see napping as something that requires a big investment (learning how to nap) with an uncertain payoff, while coffee is something that works and seems to be beneficial for health. I certainly am not tired enough to fall asleep at 2-3pm given my current ability to fall asleep quickly. Also, there are other strategies to deal with the 2-3pm slump, e.g. doing less intensive work.
jamesrcole 13y ago
Back in the 90s I worked in a fast-food pizza joint. I washed dishes and also took delivery orders on the phone. Normally we'd stand up while taking the phone orders, but one time I sat down on a chair there and the manager berated me for it. As if it was somehow lazy to be sitting, even though it had absolutely no effect on how well I did that work.

by nlh 13y ago

rfnslyr 13y ago

Could you link some? I want to read more about sleep in general. Why 20 minutes? Why not 30, or 40? I keep seeing the magical 20 everywhere.

larrys 13y ago
Has something to do with sleep cycles. But don't worry about what is written. Just give it a try and see how much you naturally sleep for and when you wake up and go from there. This can be as simple as just laying your head down on a desk with an eye patch and ear plugs. Airline tarmack type ear muffs also work well for this and completely block out most noise. Everyone is different. I don't care much for what has been written about this I just experiment and have found what works for me. I have been doing this from way before there were even things written or it was something that was even considered a strategy. To me it just made sense. I don't really care what others do or whether they think it's good or bad.
hfsktr 13y ago
I recall reading that anything over an hour disrupts your sleep pattern. 20 minutes might be a magical number for best effects. It also might be the length of a lunch someone gives up to nap after eating (or could be the full lunch).
nlh 13y ago
This is the one that comes to mind off the top of my head (and Google), but I know I've seen about 6 articles over the past few years: http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Graphic/2008/06/14/1213462663_8520-1.gif http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Graphic/2008/06/...
mtrimpe 13y ago
It's more about not going into deep sleep, which would start around half an hour for most people.

enraged_camel 13y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, there is no reason why you should need 20-minute "power naps" in the middle of the day. (There may be exceptions, such as extremely demanding manual labor, but I think we're talking about white collar jobs in this context.)

larrys 13y ago
"but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night" Ideally yes. But there are times that even with the best intentions that can't be done. Anxiety, sickness, some important schedule issue. Maybe a big lunch that you shouldn't have eaten. Naps work very well for rejuvenation.
- akinity 13y ago
  Very few people are getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, especially people with sedentary jobs.
nlh 13y ago
Not for me. I can get 10 hours of sleep at night but I'll still hit an afternoon lull post-lunch. I'm sure if I really worked at it I could figure out why (too big a lunch? blood sugar spike?) but regardless, I'm good to go for 6+ more hours w/ a 20-minute nap. Meanwhile everyone else sits and forces their eyelids open, stares at YouTube videos, and downs espresso shots...
- graeme 13y ago
  This lull disappeared for me after I stopped eating wheat. Not saying you'd get the same effect from quitting wheat. But there's decent odds it's something you eat.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - 13y ago

peterwwillis 13y ago

There's a "quiet room" in my office and I think i'm the only person that uses it. It's really nice to take a laptop, headphones and soda in there and just get work done without any distraction. And it has a window, with real light! There's also a "gaming room" which is now the storage room, but it still has a sofa and xbox that maybe somebody uses.

luckyno13 13y ago

I think its worth noting that this isn't just prevalent in the workforce, but before many individuals get to the workforce, the cram and jam lifestyle of college student start carving this rut long before they are employed. I have to assume after anywhere between 4-8 years (sometimes more) of late night, caffeinated (sometimes worse substances) cram sessions this type of mentality and habitually terrible sleeping would be difficult to get out of.

mcb3k 13y ago
This rut actually begins much earlier in some areas of the United States. Many high school students face early school start times and late nights of homework and studying. Add in sports, music lessons, extra curricular activities, or any combination thereof, and you get a recipe for sleep deprivation. Do that for 4 years of high school, and then 4-8 years of undergraduate/post-graduate/doctoral schooling, and you end up with some seriously sleepy people who have a hard time maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.

Aloisius 13y ago

Well some of us can't nap. I just lay there with my eyes closed for 20, 30 or even 40 minutes never coming remotely near unconsciousness.

rjbwork 13y ago
This is okay too. Just relax and don't think about anything in particular for a while.
- jebblue 13y ago
  I end up thinking about how I'm not supposed to be thinking about anything.
  - jacalata 13y ago
    I have this problem and I count - straight '1,2,3' doesn't take enough focus so I do fizzbuzz or powers of two. It's quite calming.
  - fragsworth 13y ago
    Yeah, and it's not very relaxing.
nickpinkston 13y ago
Likewise, I just go to sleep early and wake up naturally at 7.
pavel_lishin 13y ago
It's worse for me. I fall asleep, then wake up groggy, often times with a headache. Every once in awhile I achieve the perfect nap - and that's usually in a noisy place, very well lit - and after it, I barely feel like I was really "asleep" - not the same way that I feel after I sleep in a dark room under a blanket.
- thomasahle 13y ago
  Have you considered if you're waking up in the middle of a cycle? Maybe you could experiment with the length of the nap and/or cycle detecting apps or gear.

mildtrepidation 13y ago

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. Perhaps I've just been extremely lucky not to have seen this, but I don't think it's a justified generalization. I've only worked at length in two states, MN and FL, but I have never seen anything overt to suggest this is some sort of vastly applied cultural judgment.

CodeMage 13y ago

I suspect there might be something else at work here. Ask yourself this question: if you take a 20 minute nap at work, will that count as part of your working hours or not? Even at the places where employees are not expected to rigidly conform to fixed working hours, there's an expectation to put in a certain minimum of hours. I'm not talking about producing a certain output: even in the most "goal-oriented" places I've worked at, there was still an unstated, tacit expectation that you were supposed to put in a certain minimum of effort, regardless of your results. What I'm getting at is that if you have employees who nap and those who don't, there will almost certainly exist an expectation that those who nap should put in extra time equal to the length of their nap. Therefore, those who do nap will lose some of their free time. If you're single, that could be an acceptable bargain: instead of sleeping for (say) 8 hours at night, you would have a 20 minute nap at the office, stay 20 minutes longer and then sleep for 6 hours at night. The net gain would be 80 minutes, which isn't bad at all. On the other hand, if you're a family person, then that's 20 minutes less with (say) your kid after school.

yetanotherphd 13y ago

For my part, I see napping as something that requires a big investment (learning how to nap) with an uncertain payoff, while coffee is something that works and seems to be beneficial for health. I certainly am not tired enough to fall asleep at 2-3pm given my current ability to fall asleep quickly. Also, there are other strategies to deal with the 2-3pm slump, e.g. doing less intensive work.

jamesrcole 13y ago

Back in the 90s I worked in a fast-food pizza joint. I washed dishes and also took delivery orders on the phone. Normally we'd stand up while taking the phone orders, but one time I sat down on a chair there and the manager berated me for it. As if it was somehow lazy to be sitting, even though it had absolutely no effect on how well I did that work.