In Defense of Napping
Marshall Roy — July 23, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
We often hear that our pinwales are comfortable enough to nap in—which got me thinking about naps.
Napping: habit of the idle and lazy? Delicious luxury of college students? Or potent tactic of powerthinkers?
Recent research points to the latter. Taking a quick nap at work might be better for your mood and productivity than an expertly pulled double espresso. (If you feel more comfortable using corporate-speak, you could always call it something like “temporary recumbent strategizing,” or “semi-conscious free-association goal visualization.”)
According to The National Sleep Foundation, “the body’s clock is set with two distinct dips in alertness within a 24-hour period: one at about 2 a.m. and another at about 2 p.m., corresponding to the midday dip…Studies show that taking a nap is a great way to increase alertness and reaction times, improve mood, and reduce accidents.” And conversely, chronic sleep deprivation can lead to significantly blunted cognitive performance (operating on a just a few hours of sleep is functionally similar to operating on just a few martinis), weaken the immune system, and even contribute to more serious conditions like heart disease and obesity.
A recent graduate of my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon, has begun capitalizing on the benefits of a siesta. I remember when Arshad Chowdhury began testing the “EnergyPod” in our university library. Students there are known both for their habitual (practically competitive) eschewal of sleep; then again, they’re pretty famous for sleeping alone, too, so a single-person sleeping cocoon was a bit of an exercise in cognitive dissonance.
With the ink on his MBA barely dry, Chowdhury founded Metronaps, headquartered in Manhattan’s Empire State Building. For a small fee, frazzled professionals can enjoy a brief (20-40 minutes) catnap during a busy day and return to work rejuvenated. It’s better than a handful of almonds for fending off the afternoon havoc of Robert Goulet (God rest his stentorian soul). Our hats off to Chowdhury, for using great service design to build a successful business around an activity as natural and elemental as any part of the human experience.
Here at Bonobos, we endorse any activity, however unorthodox, that improves our service design and makes us more effective ninjas. If a few minutes of shuteye yield a few hours of focused, energetic work, then that’s certainly a worthwhile ROI—sort of like being the last one off the starting line because you were busy strapping on rocket boosters.
By the way, our pants aren’t just comfortable enough to sleep in. They’re also comfortable enough to sleep on, as recently evidenced by Chief Ninja Scott Peterman.
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I feel sorry for whoever ends up getting that pair of Cordistans with the awkward drool spot in the crotch.
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Just back from a 2-day work meeting, during which I opted for a 20-minute “temporary recumbent strategizing” instead of the collective walk. SO WORTH IT. thanks for the data to back up my experience!
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