
Regular naps are 'key to learning' - yitchelle
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30776745
======
thomasfl
It's ironic that sleeping at the office is absolutely not accepted, while
taking large doses of psychoactive drugs like caffeine and nicotine is even
encouraged. If you work with computers, then your brain is your absolutely
most important tool. Going away to visit a conference is absolutely no
problem. Sleeping for 15 minutes at the desk? Not ok.

~~~
yitchelle
Your observation is probably due to a cultural thing. I know in some Asian
countries like Singapore and Malaysia, I regularly see employees taking naps
during the afternoon. Probably for about 20 to 30mins, then they wake up,
freshen up and get back to it.

I have heard some central American countries also have similar practices.
Maybe Mexico with their siesta
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta)).

~~~
thomasfl
You are right. In scandinavia, where I live, work is seen as almost a
religion. It's the same culture in all european protestant countries. These
are the same countries that drink the most coffee.

~~~
yitchelle
> These are the same countries that drink the most coffee.

I travel to Sweden a bit and was introduced to the concept of fika. I like it.

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netcan
This is about babies, but I think it's interesting how topics somehow relating
to productivity and productive envrionements environments usually circle back
too complaining about office layouts and culture. Open plan. Naps. Working
hours.

While it's obviously true that workplaces dictate a lot about how we work.
It's also conveniently out of our control. Somebody else's responsibility and
fault. If you are power napping 3 days a day, trying standing desks,
aggressively experimenting with diet and exercise ideas and otherwise pursuing
productivity with cutting edge quirkiness I would sympathies. But, formats
people registering the complaint it's the easy somebody-should-do-something.

Also :

 _Already someone trying to live well would seem eccentrically abstemious in
most of the US. That phenomenon is only going to become more pronounced. You
can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don 't
think you're weird, you're living badly._ \-
[http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html)

While pg was actually talking about recent trends making eccentricity a
necessity (or really a side effect) of doing things "right," I think it's just
an old thing becoming relevant to a new area (avoiding addiction). People
genuinely pushing for maximal productivity, creativity and such have always
been quirky. "I CAN't WORK HERE" screams the painter. Snappy frustrated
geniuses with quirky demands, writers insisting on isolation, a bedsit, drugs,
carefully timed and controlled naps.

Maximizing is quirky. It's also individual. The benefits of maximizing health,
productivity, creativity, or other things can be incredible so the people who
do it insist that it's the obviously rational choice. But eccentricity is by
definition something we are usually averse to.

I hope this comment doesn't read negatively. I am entirely in favor of people
wanting to implement some of these things in their life. But, find wheyier
_you_ can implement it. Don't waste time lamenting that the world (or your
workplace) isn't like that. Accept quirkiness as the price.

~~~
paublyrne
I agree that the onus to improve people's lives should not be solely on
external forces. We can be independent enough to figure out ways to - as in
this case - get a nap somewhere during the day.

It is still valid to point out, though, that the structures of society heavily
influence our behaviours. I remember years ago afternoons struggling through
the hour after lunch, physically fighting to keep my eyes open in the office.
It never occurred to me then that there was a solution other than the coffee
station. Some direction from work, and a culture where a nap was encouraged
would have helped the younger me a lot.

That isn't blame, or complaint. But thinking only of how I can get around my
society's lack of awareness of napping is a little individualistic. Why not
look to improve the structures as well?

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clavalle
We have a server room that is almost empty these days. I unabashedly advocate
for a cot or a hammock in there.

I like to think of sleep as clearing my working memory: the important stuff
gets saved and the cruft is cleared and, one hopes, that a bit of subconscious
processing takes place.

It is so much more effective to sleep for 10 or 20 minutes and come back to a
problem fresh than struggle with your brain's garbage collection for several
hours.

~~~
saraid216
There was a science thing several months ago about how one of the functions of
sleep was to flush toxins from your brain. So you're not wrong?

~~~
tannerc
Here's the NPR story on that research:
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/18/236211811/brains-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/18/236211811/brains-
sweep-themselves-clean-of-toxins-during-sleep)

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minthd
Interesting. What about adult learning, do naps help with learning, and by how
much?

~~~
jacalata
They seem to: [http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-
minds/201002/tak...](http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-
minds/201002/take-nap-it-may-boost-your-learning-capacity-among-other-good-
things)

~~~
minthd
Original paper:

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093247/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093247/)

"These effects were specific to episodic learning, with no between-session
change expressed in procedural motor-skill learning, or in measures of
alertness or reaction time"

The memory relevant for developers is mostly procedural, i.e conceptual
memory, i believe. So napping might not be useful(or further research needed).

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jkot
I found that babies needs routine and pattern of 'rituals'. That works
miracles (1 year running to bed for a sleep or demanding lunch). Not sure how
it translates to adults.

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rajat2109
Does this apply for adults also? May be this is the reason why tech gaint
companies like Google have sleeping pods in their offices!

~~~
snoogler
I've worked in three separate Google offices, and never saw someone use a nap
pod once. I tend to vary my task depending on the time of day an my energy
level, e.g. code in the morning, review other people's CL's and do boring non-
coding tasks in the afternoon. I think the focus on napping is more part of HN
echo chamber (wish there was a less pejorative word, but it's a real thing)
than something most people want to do, since Googlers have every opportunity
and never do so.

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segmondy
I took a nap at work once during my lunch time and I was woken up by the
silent cold stares. Never took a nap again. :-(

