Naps for the win | Community | dailyuw.com By Mary Murphy The Daily Jan 25, 2022 It can’t be much of a stretch to say it is a universal experience to feel guilty when we allow ourselves a little leisure time. Napping, in particular, tends to carry one of the most negative connotations of all the leisure activities. While napping has been proven not to work for everyone, there are still definite health benefits, both physically and mentally. “Sleep is absolutely essential for every kind of mental function you do, everything from concentration to physical performance,” Tabitha Kirkland, an associate teaching professor in the department of psychology, said. “We really as a culture undervalue sleep. Sleep is protective against mental illness; it helps buffer us from the negative effects of stress. So getting sleep is really essential, and, if people can't get all their sleep in one chunk, getting a nap would have physical and mental benefits.” Some of napping’s benefits, according to the Mayo Clinic, include reduced fatigue, increased alertness, improved mood, improved memory, improved reaction time, and relaxation. So with these benefits in mind, why do we view napping in such a lazy, unproductive, and negative light? The tainted view of napping could be attributed to the tendency of Americans to live a fast-paced lifestyle, especially when it comes to work. We often feel this pressure to work as hard as we can and to continuously move up in the ranks, whether with respect to money or whatever else success means to you. We often feel like taking breaks is not an option. “There's also just a culture of overwork and bragging about how busy you are that has permeated our culture, that has persisted, despite the fact that we are in objectively better circumstances than we were decades or hundreds of years ago … and that we can free ourselves up for higher, more creative things,” Kirkland said. “We don't take advantage of that because of this relentless focus in our society on not only being too busy and being overworked and scheduling ourselves really full, but also the idea that success comes from that, and that you're not a successful person if you're not constantly busy and running around and doing a bunch of things.” Other cultures see this as ridiculous, European culture being one of them. You’ve all heard the saying, “Americans live to work, Europeans work to live.” There is this “Love of Leisure” that The New York Times discusses in depth, and it explains the phenomenon that Europeans spend more of their time just enjoying life and embracing the concept of leisure time as a form of pleasure, rather than something to feel guilty over. A few of these differences in work culture: Europeans have more vacation time, longer lunch breaks, the right to disconnect from their work email, and less total work hours on average. “For some people, we’re not living to work, we’re living to enjoy our lives, and to immerse ourselves in what we're doing, and those can be more hedonistic type things, like enjoying food and doing rest,” Kirkland said. “I'd say anything that we're doing that is an end in and of itself, instead of a means to an end, could be counted as a leisure activity — anything that we're doing, just because we're intrinsically interested in it, and are motivated to do it for its own sake.” One of the American values driving this fast-paced lifestyle is money, and Giuseppe Roma made one distinction on this in The New York Times that I particularly enjoy. “I care about the real quality of life,” Roma said in The New York Times. “I may not buy Prada, but I will buy organic olive oil.” Even as we highlight this cultural difference, it is important to remember that many people find it incredibly rewarding and receive many mental benefits from the lifestyle of working toward success. The part of the American outlook on happiness and success that is problematic is this belief that there is one recipe and path for happiness and success, and that those who don't subscribe to this overwork lifestyle are seen as unmotivated. “One big message from my class is that there are many ways to be happy,” Kirkland said. “There's not a single ingredient or a single kind of person who's going to be happier than everyone else.” While there is certainly nothing wrong with those people who genuinely live for their job, why do we have to see the people who live for things like leisure time or organic olive oil in such a negative light? This may also be a result of American capitalism — this need to prioritize things like our work and money over health and leisure time. “There's a variety of thoughts on leisure activities,” Kirkland said. “Some people think that [leisure activities] are a waste of time … And that's driven by this capitalist mindset.” Our competitive economic environment manifests in our feeling the need to constantly be working on something bigger and better. “I see this in my students all the time where they’re like, ‘I have to not only do amazingly in all my classes, but I have to have all these extracurriculars and all these other things to make me productive and successful so that I can advance to the next level in this competitive job market,’” Kirkland said. “We’re like, ‘I don’t really have time to do things for fun because they’re a waste of time.”’ When it comes down to it, though, the bottom line is still that naps and leisure time are proven to be good for most of us. So for those of you who enjoy napping, please resume your leisure time shamelessly, resting assured that it is benefiting you. “Taking a break from whatever you're doing can be rewarding,” Kirkland said. “It allows your mind to unconsciously go over what you're learning; you consolidate it without the effort. It allows you to replenish your resources. You're able to feel more energized when you tackle the next task, and [rest] allows you to give back to yourself so that you have more to give to the world.” And while I have you here, we might as well talk about the proper way to nap. Here is Harvard Health’s "How to take a good nap" and the Mayo Clinic’s “Do’s and Don’ts of Napping." Read these and nap away. Reach writer Mary Murphy at opinion@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @marymurphy301 Like what you’re reading? Support high-quality student journalism by donating here. #naps #rest #capitalism #leisure #breaks I found this article today-- so funny; I was researching Polyphasic and Biphasic Sleep yesterday.//