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When it comes to napping cultures around the world, Spain stands out for its love of midday dozing. Napping holds such a special place in Spanish culture that they have a word dedicated to the practice: “siesta.”Mar 22, 2021
Siestas are known as a time when Spain shuts down to let everyone go home and nap in the middle of the day. This staple of Spanish life is famous worldwide, but you may be surprised to know that many other countries besides partake in this practice, and siestas aren’t just for sleeping.
Companies in Japan create spaces to snooze, but workers say the premeditated nature of using them smacks of sloth. A pillow designed for napping at work. Nishikawa Co.
Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those where the weather is warm. Siestas are historically common throughout the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, The Middle East, Mainland China, and the Indian subcontinent.
In addition, Spanish workers typically work 11-hour days, from 9am to 8pm. With dinner at 9pm and a couple of hours of TV, they tend not to get to bed before midnight.
There’s a new trend in hard-charging, sleep-deprived Japan: taking naps mid-day. Sleeping on the job is one of the biggest workplace taboos. If you’re being paid to do a job, you don’t want to be seen asleep during working hours. But now some companies in Japan are waking up to the benefit of a power nap.
Embrace the Siesta
This is a short daytime nap that is considered a part of healthy living in France and many other countries. The nap can last for two or three hours, and it’s common for people to completely undress just as they would for nighttime sleeping. … This is also considered a form of siesta.
In some industries and work cultures sleeping at work is permitted and even encouraged. … In 1968, New York police officers admitted that sleeping while on duty was customary. In Japan, the practice of napping in public, called inemuri (居眠り, lit. “present while sleeping”), may occur in work meetings or classes.
Americans and Japanese tend to nap more than people in Germany, Mexico, or the U.K. 65% of Canadians do not nap at all. Siestas are the most common throughout Spain, the Mediterranean, and countries with strong Spanish influence. Siestas, or mid-day naps, were first mentioned in the Koran, the religious text of Islam.
Historians believe it originated to give farmers time to rest and restore energy in hot climates, but now Spain, Italy and other European countries use the midday pause to go home, eat a leisurely lunch with family and often nap.
Lunch: 2–3:30 p.m. Merienda (Mid-afternoon snack): 5–6:30 p.m. Aperitif: 8–10 p.m. Dinner: 9–11 p.m.
The exact time of day varies depending on the locale, but the most common siesta time is between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Some towns in Spain take siestas very seriously. Businesses close their doors for several hours in the late afternoon for lunch and a siesta nap.
Spain has two time zones and observes daylight saving time. … However, the time zone was changed to Central European Time in 1940 and has remained so since then, meaning that Spain does not use its “natural” time zone under the coordinated time zone system.
One of the most surprising–and often frustrating–things voyagers to Italy discover is the long midday rest period (similar to the siesta in Spain). It northern Italy this period is called riposo or la pausa, and in the south is called pennichella or pisolino. Riposo means to rest, pausa to pause or take a break.
In Greece, the evening meal begins no earlier than 21:00. Also no one will think anything of it if you telephone at 22:00. in the evening. However, ‘siesta’ time, between 15.00 and 17:00 is held as sacred.
ON AVERAGE, ITALIANS SLEEP 7 HOURS PER NIGHT – The research reveals that Italians sleep, on average, 7 hours per night, but 30% of respondents sleep an insufficient number of hours.
According to Traditional Chinese Medication, to keep the harmony within your body, it is thus advisable to take a nap. For employers, they believe that when their employees do take the time to rest during the day, it is especially good for productivity, plus well-rested workers are happy workers.
Which are the most sleep-deprived countries? According to a survey by Sleep Cycle, an app that tracks sleep hours, the top three sleep-deprived countries are South Korea and Saudi Arabia getting just under 6.5 hours per night on average and the sleepiest country Japan clocking in a few winks above 6.25 hours.
Ranking | Country | Average wake-up |
---|---|---|
13 | Italy | 7:52 AM |
14 | Romania | 8:01 AM |
15 | Colombia | 6:31 AM |
16 | France | 7:51 AM |
The Filipino habit of idlip, or a short nap after lunch, defines what siesta is: a short and sweet Filipino version of the Spanish kind, which lasts for two to three hours before lunch. … If that’s not long enough, bars and restaurants closed from 4 to 8 — in time for late lunch, and dinner at midnight.
The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than the average Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In fact, in Japanese culture, people are taught not to maintain eye contact with others because too much eye contact is often considered disrespectful. For example, Japanese children are taught to look at others’ necks because this way, the others’ eyes still fall into their peripheral vision [28].