March 06, 2007
Power Nap Gaining Popularity Among Workers
More people are Power Napping!
Not surprisingly, other businesses see the power nap as a money-making opportunity, to sell chairs, cocoons, pods and other devices.
Take Yarde Metals, a firm specializing in metal sales and distribution whose 640 employees work round-the-clock, many running heavy equipment like forklifts.
Typical in such companies is a break room with vending machine snacks and coffee. But Yarde has gone one step further -- equipping its headquarters in Connecticut with a “serenity suite”.
“It’s full stress management”, said spokeswoman Susan Kozikowski. “It takes the nap to the next level”.
The room’s sky-blue walls and dusky-colored ceiling and carpets leave nappers feeling like they’re floating when they recline in a chaise longue in so-called “zero-gravity” position. Soft sounds from speakers and aromatherapy relaxants enhance the mood.
“Twenty minutes on this Z-lounge is equivalent to two hours of traditional meditation and four hours of sleep”, according to Kozikowski.
The company feels this is important for night workers, their health, safety and even productivity.
“We run three shifts, people of different ages, some people working more than one job, they have children. For various reasons, for health reasons, they are tired and they need a break”, she said.
A long-term study of Greek men and women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 30-minute mid-day naps can dramatically reduce heart disease.
“The study makes sense”, said Washington University psychiatry professor Peter Vitaliano.
“There’s a big difference in how napping is accepted in Mediterranean countries -- like Greece, Italy and Spain -- versus the cutthroat, boiler-room pressure to be competitive in the United States”, said the Seattle professor.
“Here, if a person naps, people say, ‘You lazy slob’. There they say, ‘Did you have a good nap?’”
Last month, France -- always straddling the line between Mediterranean repose and Northern activity -- joined the debate.
“Why not a nap at work? It must not be a taboo subject”, challenged Health Minister Xavier Bertrand, calling for further studies and pledging to back naps if they proved beneficial. He said one in three people in France, where 68 million boxes of sleeping pills are consumed each year, said they slept poorly, and 56 percent of these felt it lessened their performance at work.
In Asia, napping never went out of style in some countries like China, where foreigners are still surprised to see workers nodding off at their desks for a quick wu xiu or afternoon snooze. Even hard-working Japan has revisited the question, with nap salons attracting the lunchtime crowd in Tokyo.
The first US businesses to adopt work-time siestas were transport firms, airlines and railways. Some hospitals, universities and publicity agencies have also set aside a nap room.
“Here in the US it’s more work oriented and they don’t really grasp the concept of a good siesta yet as in Europe and Latin countries”, said Iarl Grant, executive assistant of Strawberryfrog, a New York advertising agency founded in the Netherlands.
Grant said companies give employees 10-minute cigarette breaks but have no place for a 10-minute nap.
Strawberryfrog has been using a sleep pod for a year, with headphones.
Not surprisingly, other businesses see the power nap as a money-making opportunity, to sell chairs, cocoons, pods and other devices.
Take Yarde Metals, a firm specializing in metal sales and distribution whose 640 employees work round-the-clock, many running heavy equipment like forklifts.
Typical in such companies is a break room with vending machine snacks and coffee. But Yarde has gone one step further -- equipping its headquarters in Connecticut with a “serenity suite”.
“It’s full stress management”, said spokeswoman Susan Kozikowski. “It takes the nap to the next level”.
The room’s sky-blue walls and dusky-colored ceiling and carpets leave nappers feeling like they’re floating when they recline in a chaise longue in so-called “zero-gravity” position. Soft sounds from speakers and aromatherapy relaxants enhance the mood.
“Twenty minutes on this Z-lounge is equivalent to two hours of traditional meditation and four hours of sleep”, according to Kozikowski.
The company feels this is important for night workers, their health, safety and even productivity.
“We run three shifts, people of different ages, some people working more than one job, they have children. For various reasons, for health reasons, they are tired and they need a break”, she said.
A long-term study of Greek men and women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 30-minute mid-day naps can dramatically reduce heart disease.
“The study makes sense”, said Washington University psychiatry professor Peter Vitaliano.
“There’s a big difference in how napping is accepted in Mediterranean countries -- like Greece, Italy and Spain -- versus the cutthroat, boiler-room pressure to be competitive in the United States”, said the Seattle professor.
“Here, if a person naps, people say, ‘You lazy slob’. There they say, ‘Did you have a good nap?’”
Last month, France -- always straddling the line between Mediterranean repose and Northern activity -- joined the debate.
“Why not a nap at work? It must not be a taboo subject”, challenged Health Minister Xavier Bertrand, calling for further studies and pledging to back naps if they proved beneficial. He said one in three people in France, where 68 million boxes of sleeping pills are consumed each year, said they slept poorly, and 56 percent of these felt it lessened their performance at work.
In Asia, napping never went out of style in some countries like China, where foreigners are still surprised to see workers nodding off at their desks for a quick wu xiu or afternoon snooze. Even hard-working Japan has revisited the question, with nap salons attracting the lunchtime crowd in Tokyo.
The first US businesses to adopt work-time siestas were transport firms, airlines and railways. Some hospitals, universities and publicity agencies have also set aside a nap room.
“Here in the US it’s more work oriented and they don’t really grasp the concept of a good siesta yet as in Europe and Latin countries”, said Iarl Grant, executive assistant of Strawberryfrog, a New York advertising agency founded in the Netherlands.
Grant said companies give employees 10-minute cigarette breaks but have no place for a 10-minute nap.
Strawberryfrog has been using a sleep pod for a year, with headphones.
Labels: nap, power nap, powernap
