Currently, American workers are being overworked, which is leading to greater stress, which leads to more distraction, less productivity, and greater morbidity. Americans are sleeping less than they did 50 years ago (Lambert 25). Poor quality sleep has been linked to work overload and an increase in work stressors, which then diminishes productivity (Knudsen, Ducharme & Roman 1997; Naska et al. 296). The American workplace is stressful and full of high pressure situations, which brings about this greater stress. Given the problems of workplace stress, lower productivity and the need to facilitate more beneficial sleep, invoking a mandatory Spanish-style siesta is the suggested solution to the problem of workplace stress and productivity.
The Spanish siesta has existed for millennia, and the biological need for sleep is accommodated through this ritual. This phenomenon is a common occurrence among sleep cultures like Spain and Italy, in which naps are taken for up to two hours during the hottest parts of the day. The siesta is commonly associated with countries in which there are high temperatures, as well as heavier food intake during the middle of the day; these conditions encourage such midday naps. However, there are other benefits to the siesta besides geographical and cultural ones, which can be easily applied to the American workplace and culture (Smith, 2005).
Research shows that we have a biological need for midday sleep, according to our circadean rhythms. “Sleep bulimia” is a phenomenon in modern society, and human beings are not sleeping as much as they used to, or should (Lambert 26). Because of the advent of electricity and the increasingly fast pace of the modern lifestyle, mankind’s ability to sleep has diminished as the days have been lengthened thanks to electric light. As a result, fewer people sleep now than they did fifty or 100 years ago, sleeping an average of 6.8 hours on weeknights, which is much less than the 8 hours that is required for proper, restful sleep (Lambert 26). Siestas would provide the proper amount of sleep needed for human beings, and solve our ‘sleep bulimia’ problems.
Siestas would also reduce employee stress, which would turn into greater health benefits and more productive and profitable workers. The aforementioned presence of sleep bulimia leads to greater amount of stress; Knudsen, Ducharme and Roman performed a study in which poor sleep quality is directly connected to job stress and negative work and health outcomes. People who sleep less also have a greater likelihood of cardiac-related comorbidity, which could be solved with siestas; a study of Greek adults who took midday siestas showed a 30% reduced likelihood of dying of heart disease (Stein A15).
The aforementioned biological need for sleep would be met, people would be more energetic in the afternoon, and productivity would subsequently increase. Siestaawarenes.org notes that siesta provides 30% more energy, 100% more alertness, and lowers heart disease risk and stress by 34%. Naska et al. performed a study in which siesta for healthy individuals was examined, showing that people who performed systematic siestas were 37% less likely to die of coronary issues. Because of this research, the health benefits to the siesta are just as clear as the economic ones.
These concerns are valid, but not to the point at which siestas become no longer feasible. The cultural steps away from siestas have less to do with their benefits and more to do with the fact that other countries are following American models of daylight and productivity, which is affecting their sleep as well (Lambert 30). As for the workplace applications of the siesta, businesses could be suggested to allow an extended lunch break, essentially from 12-2pm, to allow for both a quick lunch and the subsequent nap. Facilities would be required to be provided to the employees to allow for on-site comfortable rest, so that they could get back to work immediately. Companies would be free to change their operating hours accordingly if they feel they need to maximize productivity.
Implementing a Larger, Wide-Scale Approach
In order to implement these kinds of changes, I would initiate a large advertising campaign in order to espouse the benefits of the siesta. I would create a website similar to siestaawareness.org, in which facts and research pertaining to the health benefits of siestas would be shown, as well as worksheets and strategies for businesses to implement siestas into their work routine. Billboards and Internet ads (as well as print ads) would be used to advocate for the need for workers to sleep, pointing to the website to get more information. The goal is to reach managers and businessmen of all kinds, as well as workers on all levels of interaction with companies, in order to increase advocacy and exposure for this initiative. This essay, as well as others from other writers and advocates, would also be included on the website. With the help of this multi-prong campaign, the ideal goal would be to allow business leaders to see the benefits of siestas to their business, and choose to implement it independently, without the need for government legislation to enforce a siesta which would be dramatic overreach. The goal is simply to convince businesses that using a siesta will make their workers more productive and healthier as a result.
In terms of the medium in which this would be designed, as previously mentioned a website would be used. This would be the most effective option for a variety of reasons; first of all, this would provide the most amount of information to the largest group of people possible. The Internet is a widely-used resource, so its visibility would be high; accessibility would likely be extremely high. As more and more people learn about it, the website could be linked through social media channels, and it would have the capability to go viral, thus further increasing its visibility and exposure. The more people hear about this, the more likely businesses will implement it in their workplaces, and so the path of least resistance is the most effective option. The use of a website would also likely be the most cost-effective, due to the low costs of hosting and designing the pages themselves.
If given the money and time to create this alternate format, I would create a website of several pages which would convey the information needed. A sidebar menu would include links to pages which would include facts and tips about siestas, as well as posts and essays about the importance of siestas in improving health outcomes and productivity. Appropriate scholarly research would be kept in an easily accessible database on one of the pages, labeled “Research.” The website would be a simple white background for easy readability, and the site would be in a blog format, likely through Wordpress or some other blog platform. This would allow for repeated posts in order to maximize Google rankings, keeping the website easily accessible and more likely to be seen. The main page would show the latest blog posts in order of release, each new post espousing some benefits of siestas, implementation in existing or upcoming businesses, and so on. Graphic designers would create a catchy logo for this initiative – the basic idea would revolve around a man sleeping at his desk. This logo would go on all of the appropriate websites and pages, as well as supplementary materials. Ads for the website would include simple backgrounds, with a single statistic about siesta included on each one.
There are many possible downsides for this approach, despite the aforementioned advantages. First, the costs for this initiative may add up, given the billboards and continued exposure that would be required in order to have the certain level of exposure we are looking for. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that visibility would increase or people would take interest. There are already other siesta advocacy websites, like siestaawareness.org, that already take this route to advocate for siestas in America; we would be treading a lot of the same ground they are. However, the difference would be that we are entirely workplace-centric, focusing our marketing and message on businesses and how they can be helped by the use of the siesta. Ideally, this specialized niche would help us focus our attention and efforts more effectively, casting a smaller net in order to grab a specific set of people.
The use of a website as the basis for a whole marketing campaign advocating for workplace siestas has its risks, but the rewards may be worth it. By creating a facts-based blog website that is advertised both online and in magazines/on billboards, it is hoped that public exposure would be good enough to convince businessmen that instituting siestas would be good business for them. Turning it into a web marketing campaign carries with it substantial viral capability, which would allow the facts about the siesta’s benefits to reach the people who could make it work in their workplaces and jobs.
Works Cited
Knudsen, Hannah K., Lori J. Ducharme, and Paul M. Roman. "Job stress and poor sleep quality:
Data from an American sample of full-time workers." Social Science & Medicine 64.10 (2007): 1997-2007.
Lambert, Craig, PhD. "Deep into Sleep. While researchers probe sleep's functions, sleep itself is
becoming a lost art". Harvard Magazine, July-August 2005.
Naska, A., Oikonomou, E., Trichopoulou, A., Psaltopoulou, T. and Trichopoulos, D. “Siesta in
healthy adults and coronary mortality in the general population.” Archives of Internal Medicine, 167 (2007), 296-301.
National Siesta Day. “Siesta Facts.” Siesta Awareness, 2014.
<http://www.siestaawareness.org/pages/siesta-facts.php>.
Stein, Rob. "Midday Naps Found to Help Fend Off Heart Disease", Washington Post, 13
February 2007, p. A14.
