Should Your Employees Take Naps?(inc.com)
inc.com
Should Your Employees Take Naps?
http://www.inc.com/articles/201108/sleeping-on-the-job-should-your-employees-take-naps.html
36 comments
We napped at my old DoD contracting gig.
They encouraged us to take a half hour nap if we were feeling sluggish/brain-tired as they knew that half hour of rest would buy a lot more development time than having the developers try to push through the last four or five hours of the day with a groggy brain.
I'm the type that ends up more tired after a nap, so I'd often leave the office if I had a difficult problem and just take a nice half hour walk. I'd usually come back with a fresh mind and a solution to the problem.
They encouraged us to take a half hour nap if we were feeling sluggish/brain-tired as they knew that half hour of rest would buy a lot more development time than having the developers try to push through the last four or five hours of the day with a groggy brain.
I'm the type that ends up more tired after a nap, so I'd often leave the office if I had a difficult problem and just take a nice half hour walk. I'd usually come back with a fresh mind and a solution to the problem.
I'm the same type if I sleep in a bed - but a nap in a slightly uncomfortable position that keeps me from falling into a deep sleep does wonders. This results me in taking naps on the living room floor and feeling great and the girlfriend yelling at me about it, and taking naps in bed with her and waking up really tired and me yelling at her about it :P
Your story gave me a good chuckle. My girlfriend and I both have different types of epilepsy so our mornings frequently consist of: "You punched me in the face!" "No! You punched ME in the face!"
Am I the only person who thinks this is a stupid question to ask? Either you are talking about a huge corp where you have employees that you can't trust to be honest about the amount of time they dedicate to the company, or a smaller company where if you can't trust your employees, you hired the wrong ones and just need to let them go. No naps in the former case and sleep whenever the hell you feel like it in the latter.
For those who feel groggy after a "nap" I think there's a misunderstanding.
In this context taking a nap means: closing your eyes, relaxing your brain/whole body, and trying to empty your mind of all the thoughts that are usually racing around in there.
Most often you don't fall asleep in the first 15/20 minutes; and if you do it won't be a deep sleep that makes you feel groggy.
Practical tip: I use a timer App to make sure I know when to "wake up".
In this context taking a nap means: closing your eyes, relaxing your brain/whole body, and trying to empty your mind of all the thoughts that are usually racing around in there.
Most often you don't fall asleep in the first 15/20 minutes; and if you do it won't be a deep sleep that makes you feel groggy.
Practical tip: I use a timer App to make sure I know when to "wake up".
I am following this tip http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/08/from-the-tips-box-coffe... . There was a discussion about it in HN, could not find it.
I wrote an article about it too (which was actually featured on LifeHacker):
http://danieltenner.com/posts/0017-how-to-nap.html
http://danieltenner.com/posts/0017-how-to-nap.html
When I sleep a bit during the day I wake up feeling more tired than I was before. If I do sleep my productivity goes way down, I do find I'm much more productive when I go play racketball or something like that for a while. Am I the only one like that?
It's dependent on how much sleep you normally get, your individual circadian rhythm, the quality and duration of your nap, whether or not you are prone to sleeping disorders, your biochemistry, and other factors.
There have been times where a five minute nap leaves me completely refreshed and revitalized. Other times, it makes things worse. I'm not certain, but I suspect that the times it has been worse is partially a result of chronic sleep deprivation, such as going a week or two on five hours a night. In those cases, 20 minutes doesn't make an appreciable dent in the deficit.
There have been times where a five minute nap leaves me completely refreshed and revitalized. Other times, it makes things worse. I'm not certain, but I suspect that the times it has been worse is partially a result of chronic sleep deprivation, such as going a week or two on five hours a night. In those cases, 20 minutes doesn't make an appreciable dent in the deficit.
Am I the only one like that?
Absolutely not! If I sleep during the day I wake up tired, irritable and generally a useless mess. The duration seems to make no difference, be it 20 min or 2 hours.
Absolutely not! If I sleep during the day I wake up tired, irritable and generally a useless mess. The duration seems to make no difference, be it 20 min or 2 hours.
For me, it is 15 minutes or two hours. If I drop in the middle, I might as well be two hours. But 15 minutes can make a HUGE difference.
That's the trick. I find having a coffee and then closing my eyes for 15 minutes leaves me more relaxed yet full of so much more energy than before to take me through the rest of the day.
Sleeping during the day doesn't work for me either. What does work however is watching a show or half of a movie. Just so I don't sleep, but my brain is able to shut down and loosely concentrate on something other than work.
I nap at work, on the floor under my desk. We're in CubeLand. I simply told the intern who sat across from me this summer "If you see me on the floor in the early afternoon, I'm not dead."
I used to get terribly sleepy in the afternoons; sometimes I'd go out to my car and take a 15 minute nap, even in the brutal Texas summer. Then I started taking vitamin D and went on a paleo diet, and now I almost never get tired in the afternoons. Nada. It's a great relief to not always be fighting to stay awake.
Same, gone slowcarb, don't eat bread even on weekends, take a vit supplement, and no longer do I totally crash about 2 or 3, and feel the need for a Mars bar. Now waking a bit earlier and feel alert until the evening.
What's odd to me is that while napping will improve my energy level if I'm tired, I'm only inconsistently tired.
I would love to figure out what variables contribute to me becoming tired in the afternoon. I'd rather not get tired at all, then take a 20 minute nap to get refreshed.
I would love to figure out what variables contribute to me becoming tired in the afternoon. I'd rather not get tired at all, then take a 20 minute nap to get refreshed.
Lol, not everything in life can be hacked. Many people, including me, believe that humans are naturally bi-phasic sleepers requiring a short nap in the afternoon around 2pm.
To me, this is like asking to figure out the variables of why we need sleep at all so you can just go without sleeping.
To me, this is like asking to figure out the variables of why we need sleep at all so you can just go without sleeping.
For me it's mostly what I had for lunch.
Your diet would be the first non-obvious place to start (i.e. if you stay up really really late, that would be a more obvious reason, but you probably already know that.)
Encouraged employees and my co-founder to use the futon, and did so myself several times.
There's solid research to show this works - and if you try it, you'll see what a difference it makes. The only reason it's not OK is because of some stupid macho attitude to work and sleep.
There's solid research to show this works - and if you try it, you'll see what a difference it makes. The only reason it's not OK is because of some stupid macho attitude to work and sleep.
If I feel myself dipping then I put on earplugs, cover my eyes and take a nap. I awaken in 20 minutes like clockwork and am good the rest of the day.
I usually get sleepy around 1:45. If I don't get a good night's sleep, then I might have two episodes like this. The nap is the cure.
FWIW Winston Churchill was a great proponent of napping: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/02/opinion/l-churchill-unders...
I usually get sleepy around 1:45. If I don't get a good night's sleep, then I might have two episodes like this. The nap is the cure.
FWIW Winston Churchill was a great proponent of napping: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/02/opinion/l-churchill-unders...
I'm not sure if there's a direct correlation with age or not, but I noticed that when I hit my 30s, I started getting tired around 3pm. It's like clockwork. 3pm rolls around and my eyelids start feeling heavy.
I don't usually take a nap however, but the few times I did, admittedly, I felt reinvigorated.
But before my 30s and this odd 3pm sleep clock, taking a nap didn't reinvigorate me at all. Instead, I would wake up even more tired than before. Go figure.
I don't usually take a nap however, but the few times I did, admittedly, I felt reinvigorated.
But before my 30s and this odd 3pm sleep clock, taking a nap didn't reinvigorate me at all. Instead, I would wake up even more tired than before. Go figure.
I am so much more refreshed and clear-headed after a 20 minute mid-afternoon nap than after drinking any amount of caffeine.
However nap or no, just having a regular schedule and 8 hours of sleep a night makes either remedy less necessary.
However nap or no, just having a regular schedule and 8 hours of sleep a night makes either remedy less necessary.
Absolutely! Do you have a happy, productive workplace, or are you running a sweatshop? It's all part of the equation. Who naps, how often do they nap, when do they nap, all these things are signals that tell you what's going on in your team.
In Europe they have the phrase "soup coma". It's what happens after lunch when the blood sugar level rises and the insulin kicks in and shuts off the brain. Expect it, and work with it, as the company in that article did.
I worked as an intern over the summer at a small startup and had an hour long lunch break. While the other interns would eat out and be gone for an entire time, I would eat the lunch I brought and take a 30-40 minute nap each day. I slept at my desk, right in front of my boss.
I was away from work for an hour, like everyone else, only I would be much more productive after the lunch hour. My boss was amused by my behavior.
I was away from work for an hour, like everyone else, only I would be much more productive after the lunch hour. My boss was amused by my behavior.
A nap after lunch seems to be common in Chinese companies. In both big consultancies, and small entrepreneurial companies, i have seem people put their head down and take a brief nap at their desk. I have read that some companies have a formal policy encouraging this, but it seems widespread anyway.
I wish i knew how to take a 30 minute nap! I just can't seem to, so i end up having to power up on caffeine.... not the same
Try powering up on caffeine and then immediately taking a nap. The caffeine takes a few minutes to kick in, and when you wake you'll feel the combined effect of a short nap and the caffeine.
I recall reading about a study which showed that this method is quite effective, but I don't have a link handy.
I recall reading about a study which showed that this method is quite effective, but I don't have a link handy.
The suit is back!
Yes.
I don't care if my employees take naps, just get shit done.
At some point I'll tell my boss and I'm pretty sure he won't have a problem with it. I just don't want to be the guy who started napping in week 1.