Defend Your Right to Siesta!

These Dog Days of Summer are the perfect time to talk a bit about the concept of the siesta and whether we should think about allowing it to be phased out in Yucatan or not. Some time ago, I read a message board comment implying that Yucatan is attempting to get rid of the siesta and join a more modern and productive world. That sounded a bit odd, so I did a bit of research and found that the so-called modern world may not be so productive after all, and that joining it may actually be harmful to one's health.

Current Status of Siesta

For centuries, the people of Spain and Latin America have practiced the habit of taking a lunch break that is long enough to include a nap. Unfortunately, globalization of the marketplace has given them the idea that work hours should be standardized and that there is no place in it for the siesta. Ironically, this external pressure to get rid of the siesta is coming at the same time that solid research is beginning to document the health benefits of taking a midday break that includes a nap.

Much of the world has adopted what they believed to be the American work schedule. In fact, Mexico has had a law, for at least a decade, that limits lunch breaks to one hour and requires work to take place on an 8-hour shift between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Unfortunately, that is not how things work in the real world. In the U.S., people work around the clock, even if they only have one job, because of economic stress and competition. When do Americans sleep? They never really sleep. For the most part, what passes for sleep in the U.S. has evolved into passing out from fatigue. This phenomenon causes additional stress on Americans, as well as the associated increases in health care costs and decreases in productivity. If that is what lies at the end of the road, when siesta is given up, then the napping nations need to seriously rethink their positions.

Americans tend to associate daytime sleeping with laziness and unemployment because they have been trained to work "from can til can't." The concept of "work until you drop" is taught, almost from birth, as a virtue, with quality of life and even quality of work seldom even showing up on American radar. Yet, according to the National Sleep Surveys, more than 65% of Americans do not get enough rest, suffer from diagnosable sleep deprivation; and 25% of Americans take sleeping pills! The Journal of Internal Medicine has often published studies showing that fatigue causes direct harm to marital and social relations, as well as to worker productivity. Yet, Americans tend to continue on the same deadly path, with siesta nations blindly following behind them. As divorce rates rise, and productivity falls, they all keep forging ahead, wide awake but barely conscious, down a road that research proves leads only to the land of stress and less than optimal profits.

Time and Duration of Siesta

Most of us have at least a passing acquaintance with the fact that the human body has an internal timekeeper known as the circadian clock and that our bodies work on circadian rhythm. However, we have never really learned the dynamics at work here. In reality, this circadian clock is no more than a rhythmic continuum that completes two full cycles every 24 hours. What that means is that there is a dip in our level of consciousness between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the afternoon, and between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the early morning hours. Now that we are beginning to see the need for a siesta, let us put this aside for a moment and talk about how long the siesta should be.

When we sleep, we go into a rotation of non-REM and REM sleep. The letters stand for rapid eye movement. This is an oversimplification, but non-REM sleep is the physical restoration part of the cycle and REM is the part of the cycle where mental repair takes place, as well as when we dream. The complete cycle for the two kinds of sleep takes approximately 90 minutes. When we nap, it is best to nap for either 40 minutes, which stops you before you go into REM, or for 2 hours, which assures you of getting through a complete cycle. According to Mark Rosekind (http://www.alertness-solutions.com/Resources_Info/resources.html), former NASA scientist and current teacher of power napping to corporations, the U.S. has missed the boat completely on this topic, while Latin American countries had it right all along.

So now we know that we are programmed for sleep during the day, preferably between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. We also know that our siesta should last either for 40 minutes or for 2 full hours. But what if we don't take a siesta at all? What if our work schedule, or our commute time, or stress from other sources causes us to not be able to schedule a siesta? What are the consequences? The first casualty of not taking a siesta is developing a sleep deficit. From this, productivity falls because the human body simply takes its siesta anyway, with eyes wide open. In effect, you go into idle, in the middle of the day, and accomplish little. Blood pressure rises, when it would have fallen had you taken a siesta. Relationships suffer, health suffers, and you are on the road to increased stress, more lost sleep, and a decreasing quality of life.

Employer Benefits

During his seven years at NASA, Mark Rosekind had the perfect laboratory to test and retest the results of siestas. Findings showed that astronauts who take a 40 minute siesta improved performance by 34% and improved alertness by 100%. When those results were published, British Airways made all of their pilots take a nap!

In terms of dollars, the National Sleep Foundation found that U.S. employers actually lose approximately $18 billion (yes - with a "b") every year due to employees not functioning at their best because they suffer from lack of sleep. While most employers still don't like the notion of employees sleeping on the job, many corporations are in business to make money and have instituted the power nap (a.k.a. the siesta) as a requirement for continued employment.

The Future of Your Siesta

Unfortunately, for the U.S., there has been no awakening to the fact that they really do need to relax, slow down, and take a nap. They cannot seem to grasp the fact that this will make them more, rather than less, productive. It is not too late for Latin America to save itself by jumping from the American train that never goes anywhere except to sleep deprivation and seriously reduced productivity, health, and quality of life.

Now, you now know that you do need 8 hours of sleep (or rest) at night, and you do need a siesta. Your siesta should be between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and should last for either 40 minutes or for 2 full hours. Schedule it and let that be the end of it. The success and quality of your life, your health, and your business depend on it.