The economics of napping
Michael at www.2blowhards.com writes:
- Some see napping as a reflection of a failing. If you were doing everything right, you wouldn’t need to nap. This stems from the American conviction that a person ought to be bursting with dynamism 24/7, and if he isn’t then something is dreadfully wrong.
- Some see napping as an aspect of a larger problem that needs to to be addressed and licked: "Today, in the news — fatigue, and how to overcome it."
- To some of a scientific bent, napping is strange — a peculiarity to be investigated. We aren’t perfect robots: Let’s try to explain why not!
- To others, napping is a productivity question. A person who naps isn’t wasting time. No, he’s doing what needs to be done to be even more productive than he’d otherwise be.
- And then there’s the "it’s good for you," napping-as-health crowd.
Here is his paean to napping. Here in Buenos Aires they use naps as a means of abolishing ordinary sleep. As they are waking up to go out, I wish to go to bed. A status game (positive-sum?) among the youth leads going-out times to stretch later and later into the night. Many clubs don´t get going until 2 a.m. (How do one-night stands work when you are out until 7 a.m. or so?) The last time I was here I would commonly eat my dinner at the end of their lunch hour.
Addendum: Daniel Drezner has a siesta update from Spain.