By Craig McIntosh
I’ve never been one for taking afternoon naps, or ‘power naps’ as some insist on calling them in a vain attempt to sound more grownup. Whenever I try, I tend to wake up feeling even more drained than when I went to sleep.
Of course, anyone who has worked in an office in China will have at some point spotted someone taking a post-lunch snooze, most likely right at their desk.
Once, I dropped by a colleague’s desk around 1 p.m. to find her fully reclined in her large leather chair with a blanket pulled up to her chin, comatose. I quietly placed the ‘urgent’ paperwork she’d requested on her desk and tip-toed away.
Even if I did like napping, I’d never have dreamed of sleeping at my desk when I was working in the United Kingdom, not least because of the risk that some prankster might take the opportunity to decorate my face with phallic symbols using a permanent marker.
I used to put all this afternoon napping down to big lunches, but it’s become fairly obvious that many people aren’t getting a sufficient number of z’s on an evening.
More than 60 percent of people age 28 or under don’t get enough sleep, largely because of late-night smartphone use, according to estimates by the China Sleep Research Society.
The China Sleep Index, compiled by the country’s National Health Commission, showed people sleep less than 7.6 hours a night on average, just below the recommended amount. In Beijing, at least 30 percent of the population survive on fewer than six and a half hours a night.
Worryingly, the problem appears to be growing particularly acute among adolescents.
Yet while some see napping as simply a midday recharge, scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have discovered evidence that suggests ‘catching 40 winks’ during the day could actually improve our brain function.
Researchers recently tested the cognitive performance and glucose levels of two groups of students, ages 15 to 19, over a two-week period. One group received six and a half hours of continuous sleep at night while the other group kept a split schedule: five hours at night with a one-and-a-half hour nap in the afternoon.
Students take part in a Duke-NUS sleep study
‘Compared with sleeping nine hours a night, having only six and a half hours over a 24-hour period degrades performance and mood. But interestingly, the split-sleep group exhibited better alertness, vigilance, working memory and mood than those who slept continuously,’ said professor Michael Chee, who heads the school’s Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience.
However, the downside was that the split-sleep group saw a greater increase in blood glucose levels, potentially firming up the link some have made between insufficient sleep and a higher risk of diabetes.
So napping could make you more productive, but it could also damage your health. I know. Nightmare, right?
We obviously still have a lot to learn about the positive and negative effects of sleep, but one thing is already certain: Leaving a pool of snooze drool next to your mouse is gross!
Listen to Duke-NUS professor Michael Chee talk about his study in this Straits Times podcast.
Craig McIntosh is the senior editor and writer with Duke Kunshan’s Office of Communications. He has more than 20 years of media industry experience in the U.K., China and the U.S.
