Lighting: Dozing off at work, not so easy!
Taking a nap at the workplace is often a taboo practice. Large companies have dared to dedicate spaces to it, more with a view to improving productivity than for the sake of public health. Other companies offer nap capsules, which allow you to isolate yourself in the middle of “open space”. For the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, this has not become commonplace. Should we therefore establish a right to nap, like in China? Grégoire Gex prefers to speak of recommendations than of law. “Currently, there are not enough solid studies to create the legal basis,” he notes, lamenting the fact that sleep remains a poor relation in medicine.
In practice, “you have to talk about it with your neighborhood and your employer to avoid it being something hidden, shameful,” he recommends. Without a place dedicated to a nap, how to rest? Employees must find the least bad solution. On a chair, with your back straight or tilted, your feet on the ground or on the desk: anything is possible. It’s up to everyone to find the right position. The ideal is lying on a bed or a sofa. Otherwise, it is recommended to tilt the backrest at least 40 degrees from the sitting position and to support the neck with a cushion. We will also opt for a quiet place without too much light.
Telecommuting, popularized by the coronavirus, has recently been a game-changer. The “home office” indeed makes it easier to take a nap in the early afternoon, a good time to doze off. “With remote work, employees can finally sleep at their own pace, for example not getting up too early,” observes Raphaël Heinzer. The downside is that some people lose their time points. The risk is to dilute sleep and disrupt your internal clock. However, our brains love regularity, points out the director of the CHUV Center for Investigation and Research on Sleep.
Zoom: The puzzle of duration
Between a few minutes and an hour and a half, the range of duration of a nap is wide.
In summary, a few benchmarks from the book “Saved by the sieste”, by Brice Faraut, neuroscience researcher at the Sleep and Vigilance Center of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris:
10 minute nap
+ guarantees an energetic awakening
+ very effective in the short term to fight drowsiness and improve cognitive performance
+ ideal for quickly recovering physical and intellectual capacities occasionally reduced
– insufficient in the event of significant sleep debt and installed fatigue
20 to 30 minute nap
+ alleviates pain, stress and boosts immunity
+ stimulates alertness for more than two hours
+ improves mood
– can cause inertia on first awakening
– positive effects after 20, 30 minutes requires at least 30, 40 minutes of uptime
1 to 2 hour nap
+ ideal for repaying sleep debt more quickly
+ effective before starting night shift: significantly improves alertness and cognitive performance for at least five hours after waking up
– inertia on awakening
– in some older people, long naps can disrupt sleep patterns and be associated with cognitive decline and increased cardiovascular risk
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