Christian Benedict is a sleep researcher at Uppsala University.
– I love that they do this, you have to encourage your employees, yes take your “time outs” it’s very important for you, for your brain, reboot, recovery, rest, he says.
various Japanese For several years now, large companies have been setting up sleeping quarters at work for employees. Such as the Japanese IT company GMO Internet with 3,000 employees, which cleaned up the conference room eight years ago and installed 30 black armchairs. That after reading NASA studies showing that a lunchtime “power nap” increased the productivity of pilots and astronauts.
Soft background music is played, some have their mobile phones quietly with them, so that after fifteen and twenty minutes they are awakened by a vibrating alarm. Some have a scarf over their faces, others just close their eyes.
– I had a headache before lunch, says Keiko Nakamura when she comes out of the sleeping area after sleeping for a while, but now I feel better. The idea feels clear, she says.
Company spokesperson Sae Takahashi explains that the health effects of the sleeping space have not been researched, but she has heard from parents of young children how much they appreciate it.
A majority of Japanese think they sleep too little, in Sweden it is about four in ten.
To take a nap about a quarter at lunchtime can reduce sleep deprivation, according to sleep researcher Christian Benedict of Uppsala University. But he also warns that some people become almost obsessed with controlling how they sleep through sleep pacifiers, so napping can lead to more stress for them.
– People can also feel pressured, I have to use the nap as best I can, otherwise I’m underperforming here too, concludes Christian Benedict.
More about how sleep deprivation affects health and can lead to obesity, on Vetenskapsradion Hälsa today 12.09 in P1.
