Note to captains of industry: if you want your staff to be more productive, let them have afternoon siestas – it really works, writes Tom Hodgkinson

It’s always nice when the science catches up with us idlers. A new report says that the more you nap, the cleverer you are. The findings were published in a journal with the appealing title of Sleep Health (I must get a subscription).

“We found an association between habitual daytime napping and larger total brain volume, which could suggest that napping regularly provides some protection against neurodegeneration through compensating for poor sleep,” the researchers noted.

The report adds to a growing pile of evidence which suggests that, in the words of neuroscientist Prof Tara Spires-Jones, “sleep is important for brain health”.

Sleep expert Matthew Walker carried out a nap experiment a few years ago. He gave a test to two groups of people. One group had powered on through the afternoon with no nap. The other group enjoyed a long post-prandial doze. The nappers did far better.

“Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took at nap,” commented Walker.

So that’s all clear. But the question remains. How to nap? Where should you take your siesta? And how long should it be?

Speaking personally, I find that I can drop off almost anywhere. At school I would fall asleep at the desk during the first lesson after lunch. Sometimes the teacher would notice and bang the table to wake me up. At the Idler office I have a large chair in which I find I can enjoy very pleasurable short naps of about 15 minutes. And when at home I either lie on my back on the sofa or on the bed and drift into paradise that way.

It’s not always easy to nap in the office of course. That’s why Michael Palin has said that every office should have a nap room. Progressive employers are now starting to introduce shorter working weeks. So maybe in the future Goldman Sachs will install chill-out rooms complete with orange beanbags and soothing ambient sounds, the better to improve the neurocognitive abilities of its staff.

Do you take naps? Where? For how long?

SELECTED COMMENTS

These comments were mailed to us after an earlier version of this piece was sent out as a newsletter. We like to publish a selection and reserve the right to edit them for clarity. Feel free to drop us a line with your thoughts.

Sir: This arrived just in time here in Tuscany. I can now have my post-prandial with a very clear conscience.
Dr Guy Standing

Sir: I’ve been a confirmed napper all my life. I’ve even fallen asleep momentarily while riding a motorcycle, (without falling off!) and many times at the side of the road, alongside my trusty steed on long journeys. Day and night, warm and cold. I well remember having a nap on a picnic bench in the middle of the night while doing the all-night-and-all-day MCC Land’s End Trial back in ’96. I suspect my most impressive nap was while watching U2 perform live at Aston Uni back in 1981. They were still up-and-coming and the hall was only half full. As you might imagine, I wan’t overly impressed. Didn’t get to like them until Live Aid. FWIW The Beat were the best band I saw during my time in Brum – possibly the best ever. RIP Rankin’ Roger.
Paul Blezard

Sir: naps are our mainstay  and springboards these days. Most wonderful day time treats, and they readily facilitate middle of the night wake-ups for snacks, chats, music and reads!
Scott and Sandra

Sir: Not only that, they’re also an act of resistance…
https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/
No More Grind: How to Finally Rest with Tricia Hersey.
Nikola Sokell

Sir: I live in Spain, surely the oldest kingdom of naps. Siestas are understood to be essential and current working methods are booed as they interrupt with this very Spanish tradition. I reside in Seville – pretty darn hot – and we have siestas to get out of the heat too.  Until very recently, most people went home for lunch – not this lunch at your desk crap – and, of course, they had a snooze before going back to the office. When you go and have lunch at a friend´s house or a family member´s then you are offered a sofa, an armchair or a bedroom to have your siesta after lunch. You don´t get shown the door after you have wolfed your food like in other countries. There is also something called “la siesta del cordero”  or the lamb´s siesta which is the siesta you take BEFORE lunch.
Un saludo
Katie

Many years ago I was given The Art of the Siesta by Thierry Paquot and it changed my life. I no longer felt any guilt about drifting off in the early afternoon. Perhaps some other Idlers would enjoy the book, too. I’ve just had my daily nap.
Bruce Cadbury

I feel vindicated! I’ve long insisted that napping increases my effectiveness in whatever endeavour I may be pursuing. It is, however, slightly frowned upon in the education industry. So I keep a folding cot hidden away in a remote storage space. Perhaps with a quick shot of espresso or small energy drink, I set a 20 minute timer and lay the phone on my chest. With some practice now, I’m out in seconds and up just before a REM cycle (I’ve found that hitting the REM cycle during a nap will often leave me a bit groggy when I wake). My brother used to take naps in the file room at his work. He found that once inside with the door shut, pulling out one of the first file drawers blocked the door from opening and created a racket that would wake him. He would then apologise and ask whoever was attempting to enter to wait just a moment while found the drawings he was looking for with none the wiser!
John Eames

Sir: A poem.

Miasma

You, new two o’clock time.
Sometimes savoured before
After a full morning 
Or a languidly hot day.
Now, in lockdown, you’re really coming into your own.

You are invisible, like the virus,
But you settle on me like down.
You arrive punctually, the moment I lie down on my bed.
Flute [the cat] then arrives punctually too,
Recognising from her bunk bed perch
The creak of bed  that means lap is coming.

You settle on us both, in a molecular fall.

Forty winks, you were called.  And nap.
But snooze and doze are nearer the mark
With their sibilance, their soft-shoe shuffle, their surrender.

Your are a special state, miasma.
Sweet, soporific lethargy.

By Annette Kobak

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