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How to catch winks at work: Where (and why) to nap on the job

Katy B. Olson | January 29, 2014

Following reports that junior bankers in the world’s most competitive investment banks have been taking to their office bathroom stalls for much-needed rest breaks, even the non-bankers among us have been contemplating where to rest at work. Some workplaces offer nap rooms, such as those found at Nationwide Planning Associates, and The Huffington Post, outfitted with a recliner or, in certain offices (such as Google’s and Proctor & Gamble’s), a special chair designed specifically for power naps.

Lack of sleep has a negative impact on worker health and productivity, according to multiple studies. “Sleep deprivation negatively impacts our mood, our ability to focus, and our ability to access higher-level cognitive functions. The combination of these factors is what we generally refer to as mental performance,” according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Plus, skills that most workers use every day are adversely affected: “Concentration, working memory, mathema tical capacity, and logical reasoning are all aspects of cognitive function compromised by sleep deprivation.”

If only all offices accommodated work naps as well as this one does. From Nathan Jones.

Napping can help workers’ wellness and on-the-job productivity, but there is a right way — and a wrong way — to go about napping. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a 20-30 minute nap can improve performance, mood, and alertness. Such a short nap “provides significant benefit for improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.” Just be wary of what time you doze: catching some zzz’s too late in the afternoon may interfere with your nighttime sleep.

One study compared the benefits of naps of different lengths as well as no naps, finding that a 10-minute nap “produced the most benefit in terms of reduced sleepiness and improved cognitive performance. A nap lasting 30 minutes or longer is more likely to be accompanied by sleep inertia, which is the period of grogginess that sometimes follows sleep,” according to the National Sleep Foundation.

For those lacking both sleep and an appropriate work area to indulge in it, The Wire recently reported on the top go-to spots for sneaking in a few winks during the workday, and tips for getting away with it. The rankings are as follows: The Working From Home Nap; The Car Nap; The Meeting Room Nap; The Under the Desk Nap; The Stairwell; The Corner with the Boxes; and The Toilet Nap.

First up, the Working from Home Nap: Sleep with your hand on your mouse (to keep your GChat status active, not idle), and keep your phone on loud in the event someone from your office checks in.

The Car Nap: What The Wire calls “the king of naps,” this nap offers comfort and privacy. The downsides? “Not having a car, car-jacking, and extreme temperatures,” to name but a few.

Sleeping in your car (if you have one) may be your best bet for getting a nap in at work. From Asim Bharwani.

The Meeting Room Nap: How organized is your office? Depending on the availability of your conference rooms, and how often your co-workers interrupt one another, you may take advantage of the conference room and book some time in advance for your shuteye.

The Under the Desk Nap: Popularized by Seinfeld, the under-the-desk nap offers privacy and, often, darkness, but nappers risk being found in a compromising position by any “persistent or important” visitors to their office during nap time.

The Stairwell: A good option for high-rises and other offices with high elevator traffic. Just beware of any workout buffs using the stairs for exercise.

The Corner with the Boxes: “If you want an unbothered resting spot, go where the boxes are,” advises The Wire. As long as you don’t work at a shipping company, your office’s boxes are likely in an under-trafficked corner. Take advantage of the privacy!

The Toilet Nap: Make like an overworked Goldman Sachs junior banker and head for the loo, where comfort and convenience reign: “The true beauty here isn’t the ability to lock the door for privacy… it’s that rolls of toilet paper underneath a sweatshirt are excellent makeshift pillows.”