This is a recurring joke in many workplaces, but I doubt there are actually very many people who stage this. “Take a nap” when no one sees you in a corner at work. In this regard, as in other matters, Japan is decades ahead of us. We knew the benefits of napping, and they made it very clear that sleep was sacred and broke that taboo a long time ago. If you need to rest at work to recharge your batteries, you do that. Even the “effort” is appreciated.

A little delay Last year, one of Japan’s most popular songs was “stolen” again. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has called on the public to get more and better sleep, following two reports that found Japanese people were not getting enough sleep. This is not a trivial matter. So much so that there has been a growing trend for over 10 years: Napping everywhere, even at work.

Yes, it is accepted that employees sleep, and as we will see, this trend has led to the development of an unusual market: the market for devices and kitchenware that will improve “sleep” in the workplace.

You should sleep more. The trend in the country is even supported by studies highlighting the benefits to workers’ own health and productivity. To sleep office Not only is it common and socially accepted, but, as we said, it is even seen as a sign of diligence, something like “a person is so devoted to his work that he gives everything to the point of exhaustion.”

Essentially, it’s a pretty logical problem: Japan has long been one of the most sleep-deprived countries on the planet. One study suggested that the average Japanese sleeps less than 7 hours each night. The result: images of people sleeping on the road, in the subway or at work, but also in parks, cafes, bookstores, shopping malls and other public places where they can “lie down” or even sleep on the floor if necessary.

Inemuri. There are many words in Japan that explain almost everything that is not so clear in the West, and this would be no exception. Inemuri means “being present while sleeping.” As Dr Brigitte Steger of the University of Cambridge told the BBC: “I first encountered these intriguing sleep attitudes when I first came to Japan in the late 1980s. At the time, Japan was at the height of what is known as the bubble economy, a phase of the extraordinary speculative boom.” Daily life was correspondingly hectic. “People were filling their schedules with work and leisure appointments and had almost no time to sleep.”

The expert notes that during the period of Japanese history marked by the post-war economic boom, the country gained the reputation of being a hard-working nation that had almost no time to sleep. Translation: long work days with naps on the way home. The same was true for students who stayed up all night and fell asleep in class the next morning.

We accept irrational sleep. This led Japanese society to an expected conclusion: Napping due to insomnia became so common that it became one more social dimension that one could live without problems and taboos. It doesn’t matter if it’s in class or at work, of course, with its own rules.

As Steger explains about the application of Inemuri in society, “it depends on who you are. If you’re new to the company and need to show how actively involved you are, you won’t be able to sleep as soon as you arrive. But if you are 40-50 years old and not directly interested in any important matter, you can sleep. The higher you are on the social ladder, the more sleep you can get. And all this without forgetting the peculiar feature of Inemuri (presence while sleeping), which means that although one is mentally absent, one must be able to return to the social situation in question when an active contribution is required.

A lunch market. Capitalizing on this trend, many Japanese companies are releasing products designed to make perfect confectionery easier. For example, Koyoju Plywood Corp has small sleeping capsules called Giraffenap available in cafes in Tokyo. They come with pads and platforms designed to ergonomically support a person’s head, hips, shins, and feet for a nap of about 20 minutes.

He’s not the only one. The company Atex markets the “Gogo no Makura”, which means “afternoon pillow” and consists of a padded headrest with a hole in the middle. Yes my dream nod In Japan, a perfect sleep at the desk becomes a reality, but you always remember that this nap is a sign that you have given up your last drop.

Image | Reddit, Reddit

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