Sleep and Society: You’re a professional napper?
What if I paid you to sleep more? What if your profession was a napper? During one of my previous posts, I explained how napping may help you become more attractive and richer. What if you could make a profession out of it? That would be the dream. I mean, we already have professional chocolate tasters, so why not?
With a generous pay of $18,000; NASA recruited people with one job requirement: to sleep nonstop for 70 days (maybe that’s a bit too long)! The purpose of the experiment is to study how microgravity affects the human body so that NASA can create countermeasures for astronauts who have trouble adjusting back to their normal body functions once they return to Earth from their spaceflights.
Sleep for pay — and you get to do it for the sake of science! Awesome! Who cares if your body is too sore for lying down for so long.
Unfortunately, for many of us, we will likely have to pay for our naps in the future.
Studies continue to show how important sleep is for our health and general productivity. In fact, according to the RAND Corporation, the U.S. has been losing $411 billion, 2–3% GDP, every year due to sleep loss! Napping may be the best way to get yourself and your company to earn more money. As working environments become more competitive and everyone is looking to sharpen their special edge, people will likely look at napping services as an attractive option to get that extra boost of energy. The same way we utilize coffee and energy drinks to keep us going through the day, the U.S. market is slowly starting to offer napping sessions to workers to ensure that they are working in top form.
Smart companies have already caught on.
recharj® the first nap studio to have opened in the Downtown D.C. area last year offers power-nap sessions throughout the day so that workers can take advantage of quick snoozes lasting from 25–35 minutes. The power nap sessions are designed so that the sleepers don’t enter the REM3 or REM4 cycles of deep sleep. Since the nap sessions are so light, the nappers can take advantage of a restorative session waking up refreshed rather than groggy.
Today, there are various forms of nap pods in the market catered to different corporate environments. Companies like Google, Facebook, and Nike use pods to enhance their working environments.
Meanwhile, companies like Sleepbox has redefined the concept of nap pods altogether as sleep vending machines. Companies and individuals can rent out large boxes that serve as rooms with beds. With a personal work space (with tables and electric outlets) as well as sound alerts, ventilation systems, and TV, Wi-Fi, and and luggage space; Sleepbox is more of a tight, utilitarian room. The growth of the company has been unreal now expecting to expand to railroad stations, city centers, shopping malls, and other public facilities. You might be using one sometime soon!
Want one right now, but still don’t have access to a nap pod? What could I do to make up for my lost sleep last night?
I’d say be shameless.
Find a place to nap and include in your schedule. Remember, it isn’t a sin to get that daily snooze. In fact, you are doing yourself and your company a favor by giving your brain a time to rest and restore.
Just FYI, NASA suggests that the ideal time for a nap is 26 minutes. Get that nap!
To learn more about how snoozing more (or less) can change your life for the better, preorder my book, The Art of Napping: The Sleeping Samurai and the Dormant Dragon, here.
