Search Results

Without the stressful commute or jarring early morning alarm, I’ve found that working from home has allowed for an easier transition into the working day. I’ve been able to have a better night's sleep and I’m more well-rested during the day. I’ve found that I’m able to combat the usual workplace fatigue and be increasingly productive as a result of napping. There are 4 different time frames for napping, and I want to share what I’ve found of these rest times. 15-20 Minute Nap This nap does wonders for me. I found that a short 15-20 minutes was plenty for me and enough to restore my energy when I couldn’t get through a paragraph without having to re-read it 3 times. When I feel like I’m slowing down in the workday and need a boost, this nap allows me to get into a REM stage of sleep which helps with mental restoration whilst ensuring that I don’t wake up feeling too groggy or tired. 40-60 Minute Nap Like many people, I found myself working from home when I was sick or had a red-eye flight back into London and, on occasion, the work party from the night before. In these scenarios, it was rare that I managed a good night's sleep. In fact, I found a more restorative 40 to 60 minutes nap was what I really needed. This allowed me to get more restorative deep sleep which helps with memory. The downside was, sometimes I would wake up feeling groggy or still a bit tired. Knowing I may wake up feeling groggy, I wouldn’t plan to jump straight back into work. To resist the urge to carry on napping or move my workstation to the bed, I started with menial tasks. Getting up and making a cup of tea, hanging up the washing or rearranging my work environment usually was the slow start that my mind and body needed to fully wake up and be ready to jump back into work. Of course, it takes kicking the initial grogginess but a 40-60 minutes nap can sometimes be the necessary longer rest required. 90 Minute Nap The 90 minutes nap was rare for me. I simply didn’t want to finish work later because I spent more time napping. I thought I would share the 90 minutes nap for those of you who's working hours are less time-bound. This nap has the best impact on improving procedural memory, creativity, and emotions. If timed right, you’re also likely to avoid the groggy sleep feeling. Naps Longer Than 90 Minutes If you are regularly napping for longer than 90 min, I would start to pay attention to the quality of sleep you are getting at night. Napping shouldn’t be a substitute for poor sleep. Nothing beats a good night's sleep, and unfortunately, sleep is not something you can catch up on. Naps will help but you won't regain the full benefits of the sleep you lost out on. How you regulate these nap times is up to you but I would suggest gentle alarms. Loud intrusive noises tense your body and wake you up in a stressed flight or fight mode - which is counter-productive when your goal is to relax and restore. I use a music alarm to ease out of my sleep cycle and not be shocked out of sleep. Smart watches also have a more gentle vibration alarm. You may have different experiences of each of these nap times periods, as we all have various optimal napping times. See what works for you but it’s best to keep the nap time to multiples of 20 minutes in order to ensure you wake up at good points during your sleep cycle. Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about the length of napping.

Whether it’s the Monday morning fatigue or post-lunch slump, the continuous workday can leave you feeling tired and unproductive. Ongoing workplace fatigue can have many different causes, such as physical health issues, excessive stress, or mental health issues. However, it’s commonly a result of sleep deprivation. When you’re tired at work, it can feel impossible to concentrate, let alone stay productive. The Sleep Council 2017 report found that, when asked what aspect of life is most affected by lack of sleep, 53% said energy levels, 52% mood, 36% health, 23% work performance and 21% personal relationships. Sleep has a massive affect on our health and wellbeing, within workplaces and otherwise. Lack of sleep is the predominant issue that triggers people to feel tired at work. With around 75% of people in the UK reportedly sleeping less than the recommended hours of sleep per day, it’s time to address our sleep deprived culture and genuinely address how to manage fatigue. What To Do When Tired At Work? If you’ve ever questioned what to do when you get tired at work, or how to get through the work day if you’re feeling fatigued, or even strategies to have more energy at work, then workplace napping may be the solution you’re looking for. Although it seems like a somewhat obvious solution to feeling fatigued, taking a short nap break addresses the most likely factor for your feeling tired at work. Even a short 20 minute nap has been shown to improve job performance as well as additional health benefits, such as managing fatigue and improved mental wellbeing. The importance and effectiveness of napping can’t be understated and we at Rest Space recognise that. By introducing nap pods into workplaces, we recognise that sleeping at work can increase workplace productivity and employee wellbeing. In fact, a recent survey on sleep pods found that 94% of employees using the pods felt an improvement on their wellbeing, concentration and overall working morale. Our unique napping pods offer an innovative solution and target why you may be tired at work. Get in touch if you would like to learn more about our nap pods and managing workplace fatigue.

We all know the importance of sleep, and ensuring we get enough every night is essential for both our physical and mental wellbeing. However, in the hustle and bustle of modern life, it is becoming increasingly more challenging to get the required eight hours a night. In fact, research has shown that 36% of adults struggle to get to sleep each week, while over half struggle with insomnia at least once a month. The health and wellness of your staff are becoming some of the most important elements of the workplace, but not getting enough sleep can impact the mood, alertness performance of your employees. That is why an increasing number of companies are beginning to look at the benefits of incorporating nap-friendly spaces within the workplace. Sleeping on the job… The idea of sleeping at work might seem a little strange, but there is a growing number of studies exploring how a short nap during the day can transform the productivity and wellness of employees. Here in the UK, and for much of the world, napping during the day when we are children is incredibly common. However, as we age and begin our education, the practice of napping ends, and it is not a culturally acceptable practice. However, there are certain countries around the world that have a different attitude to napping. In Italy and Spain, mid-afternoon breaks are incredibly popular and taking a siesta during the day is completely normal. Equally, in Japan sleeping during the day, or inemuri as it is known, is actually seen as a sign of being completely dedicated to your job, and it has given rise to sleep pods being placed around major cities. In these countries, these short power naps are encouraged as they help to re-energise employees and maximise their concentration through the afternoon and evening. While insomnia is a major issue impacting employees in this fast-paced world, it is not the only reason behind having an afternoon nap. Despite the stigma of napping at work we have found that more than half of the employees we have spoken to have napped at work with 70% saying napping during working hours is positive. "there is only so much focus your brain can handle in one day and a nap helps to rest the eyes and mind from the hard focus on screens and thinking throughout the day" London worker Our body’s natural circadian rhythm dictates when we need sleep, controlling bodily processes such as our blood pressure, body temperature and digestive secretion. These progressions determine how tired we feel, and during the afternoon, we often face a rising homeostatic drive which results in reduced alertness and increased tiredness. How napping can boost employee wellness Helping to maximise the wellness of employees is something that every business is looking to incorporate. In recent years, work spaces have been working hard to implement benefits for their staff that help to improve wellness, boost innovation and create an increased sense of community. These benefits are incredibly varied, from meditation sessions and on-site gyms to implementing standing desks, but could offering a space to nap also help to improve wellness? Creating a designated space for your staff to nap can provide a wide range of benefits for your employees, including: More alert One of the biggest benefits of taking a nap is that it helps to significantly increase alertness. When employees are able to take a short nap during the working day, they will benefit from increased focus while undertaking their work alongside being more alert through meetings with colleagues and clients. Harmonious environment When we become tired, we are more likely to be irritable and tense, which can result in tension within the workplace. Being able to take a nap will help to remove any irritability from tired staff, resulting in a more harmonious working environment. Tiredness can also lead to impulsiveness, which can result in poor decisions and increased frustration. Allowing your employees to take a nap throughout the day will ensure that they are better able to deal with the day-to-day issues of work. More creative Napping does not only help to keep your staff more motivated and happier, but it can also lead to an increased level of creativity. Napping helps to keep the brain active and ensures it is able to process data more effectively. How long should naps last? While naps are a proven way of helping to improve the wellness of your employees, the length of the nap is crucial. Research by NASA found that a 26-minute nap was the optimal time for pilots, improving alertness by 54% and performance by 34%. However, further research has shown that a longer nap is more beneficial and keeping it in multiples of twenty minutes can prove more restorative. A 40 to 60 minute nap can help to improve with memory, although it can take the mind and body a few minutes before it is ready to jump back into work. Some people can even benefit from longer naps, with a 90 minute nap being shown to help improve procedural memory, creativity, and emotions. One of the biggest issues that employees have when it comes to taking a nap is finding a suitable environment. Trying to nap at your desk or in your car during a lunch break is incredibly uncomfortable and will result in disruption. To truly rest and recharge during the nap, employees need a space that is tranquil and free from distraction. How Rest Space can help you Here at Rest Space, we know how important napping can be in helping to improve employee wellness. That is why we have created an innovative solution that allows you to create a truly relaxing environment that has been specifically designed around your requirements. Our unique spaces offer employees a private and spacious environment to sleep in. With voice-activated soothing lights and high-quality Bluetooth speakers playing gentle sounds, the area can provide the most relaxing nap possible. To maximise hygiene, each space also features ventilation fans to keep air circulating throughout while the mattress can be wiped clean and is made from antimicrobial fabrics. In this fast-paced modern world, being able to recharge in the workplace is crucial in helping to improve the wellness and functionality of your team. Our unique spaces are inspired by the traditional Japanese nap pods. If you would like to find out more about our products, you can get in touch with RestspaceLDN.

Recently we came across an article about Mercedes’ new electric car, the EQS. What surprised us the most is that it has a napping mode! We did a little research and found that Mercedes have been working on this as early as 2012. They conducted the TopFitTruck study and found that “drivers who have not had a good night's sleep drive more erratically and drive in a manner that wastes more fuel than their well-rested counterparts.” On top of that, drivers who feel tense behind the wheel have trouble making good decisions in stressful situations and over time tend to develop back problems. Here at Rest Space, we are always trying our hardest to provide the best space to rest to anyone who would need it and we want to give props to companies like Mercedes who are looking after their customers’ physical wellbeing. The Mercedes EQS has a special Power Nap program so drivers can get a nap in at a rest stop. The mode will automatically recline the driver’s seat, close the windows and the sunshade across the glass roof. and temperature are adjusted to create a soothing atmosphere. Relaxing sounds are played while an image of a starry sky appears on the dashboard screen. When it is time to wake up, the car will initiate special energizing fragrances and a gentle massage. We think this is a development in the right direction. The EQS creates an ideal environment to sleep, adapts the temperature and lighting to make it into a comfortable and familiar environment to the napper. This is similar to what Rest Space has integrated into our sleeping/napping pod, the [Rest Space] Everest. Now, when can we get a napping mode in all cars? Or even napping areas in back of trucks and lorries? Get in touch with Rest Space LDN if you find any new and interesting developments in the napping and wellbeing space.

In our research, we found this post by The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) regarding shift work, sleep and health. Though this was published in 2018, here at Rest Space we are confident the issues mentioned here have been exacerbated by the recent pandemic and doing all we can to bring up to date research to organisations and people involved with shift work. "NHS staff are at high risk of sleep and circadian disruption, and there is evidence showing that fatigue is linked to increased risk of medical errors with consequences for patient safety." The key takeaways from this article are here: Shift work is common in many safety-critical and other sectors, including transport and healthcare. This can disrupt sleep and circadian timing Shift work is linked with an increased risk of sleep problems, occupational and driving accidents, and long-term health conditions Reducing its impact is a potential way to improve public health, health and safety in the workplace, and increase productivity "Shift-work related fatigue has been implicated in several serious workplace accidents. For example, fatigue has been linked to 21% of UK rail incidents." Some solutions that can be implemented to help alleviate the effects of shift work include: Strategically timed breaks/naps during the shift; this can be facilitated by having suitable break rooms or sleeping pods Improve education around managing shift work and promoting health and wellbeing Develop an open culture around taking breaks and napping when needed Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN If you would like to talk about some of these points or if you have any interesting articles you would like to share with us. Some extra reading Night work 'throws body into chaos' - BBC Doctors should nap during night shifts - British Medical Journal Defying body clock linked to depression and lower wellbeing Challenging the stigma of workplace napping - Oxford Academic Guidelines for Using Napping to Prevent Commercial Vehicle Driver Fatigue Napping: A public health issue. From epidemiological to laboratory studies Bus Driver Fatigue - Transport Safety Research Group

Ramadan is a holy month of fasting, introspection and prayer for Muslims; during this period Muslims would fast from sunrise to sunset. This year however Ramadan falls on a period where the days are longer (London approximates sunrise and sunset is 5.30am and 8pm respectively). We are fortunate to have flexible working hours becoming the norm in many companies so we can balance those early mornings with an afternoon nap. We found a great article from UAE Health talking about sleep deprivation. They have outlined and highlighted some ways to fight sleep deprivation during this Ramadan period: Try to get at least 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night Dr Sobia Farooq - “Planning for the sleep disruptions people can experience during Ramadan can be very helpful to help introduce a new routine. Find a solution that works for you and try to stick to it.” Naps can be a fantastic way to catch up on a bit of sleep and help people feel more energised Here at Rest Space, we have done extensive research into an ideal sleep or napping environment. We have come to a conclusion that having low lighting, cool and familiar environments will help you fall asleep faster and therefore using your time more efficiently. Let us know if you like to see more sleeping tips especially to use in this Ramadan period. We commend the companies such as Thames Waters, Facebook and Hootsuite who have dedicated areas for their employees to nap. Let us know if your company has napping/sleeping pods, wellbeing areas or rest spaces for you to catch 40 winks or if you want to share one of your napping stories.

I sleep for ~9 hours a night and I wake up at ~9.30 am. I am NORMAL. I am not LAZY, I don't have ISSUES with my sleep. This is NOT something I need to fix. We NEED to fix our society's attitudes and expectations with sleep, and not feed into the sleep-deprived, society that feels guilty for getting the sleep they need. I am sharing this post because we generally have damaging views on how much sleep we need. Most of us agree sleep is important but beyond that, we are educated by wrong attitudes to how much we should be sleeping and when. We look at outliers that are successful and attribute their success to living in extremes. No one mentions the famous prime ministers who developed dementia when they mention they only slept 4 hours a night ( A relationship has been identified with less sleep and dementia.). The early bird catches the worm, early to bed early to rise makes a man wealthy, healthy, and wise. Where were these cultural sayings reinforced by farming and factory work that required us to be up at the crack of dawn? Sleep timing recommendations are based on what time you actually sleep not what time you go to bed, many of us miscalculate our sleep time and overestimate it not taking to account the time it takes for us to fall asleep. The 'average' amount of sleep you need ranges from 7 hrs to 9, but with few people needing as little as 6 or as much as 10. There is a genetic predisposition to this so there is little you can do to change it drastically. The time you need to sleep is also has a genetic predisposition with an extreme early-type sleeping from 9 pm to 5 am and an extreme late-type preferring to sleep at 4 am to 11 am (they can almost share a bed and never be in it at the same time ). We are all different and not everyone fits into the 8hrs sleep in a 9 to 5 life. I have just finished my chronobiology course by leading chronobiologist Till Roenneberg. Which has inspired me to share this. On top of reading his books and loads of other books on the subject of sleep, I find chronobiology and sleep extremely fascinating. I recommend Internal Time by Till Roenneberg for an easy read on this subject. This is a picture of my chronobiology profile in comparison to the rest of the population. The MCTQ (Munich Chronotype Questionnaire) is based on Till's work and holds data of over 200000 people across the globe. Want to find out if you are an early or late type in your sleep timing? You can try it here https://thewep.org/survey/index.php/389831?lang=en What can you do with this information? Figure out what your sleep need is and protect it. If you manage a team embrace a flexible working culture that embraces night owls as well as the early birds Question the views and attitudes that promote a sleep-deprived society Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about sleep related topics.

To nap or not to nap is often the question. Limiting it to these binary conditions means we often ignore all the grey areas in-between; like when to nap? How to nap? What to do if you are unsuccessfully trying to nap? Following on from our last piece on why you should nap on nightshifts we will dive into tips on how to nap on a night time shift and how you can improve your sleep. What does napping help with The list of what napping helps with is endless, but in short, napping IS sleep, so its benefits are related to the benefits you receive from sleep, just a few of which: Makes you more alert Improves memory Improves heart health Reduces stress Keeps off the pounds Improves your mood Boosts your immune system Refines physical performance Sharpens sensory perception Enhances creativity How best to approach napping on shift work? When in the shift to nap? The best time to nap on a shift depends on your internal circadian rhythm. A good indication based on sleep deprivation research on airline pilots suggests that preventing the onset of tiredness is more effective in treating it. Therefore, to nap earlier on on your shift before the fatigue hits you would be much more effective than spending that same amount of time napping after it has hit you. For people with a late circadian rhythm, your natural dip will be later in the shift, potentially 3 am - 6 am. For early types, your natural dip may be as early as 11 pm-12 am and you may struggle even more with night shifts compared to late types. Try to get your rest in before your dip. If you drive home, think about taking a short nap towards or at the end of your shift; the occurrence of fatal accidents for night shift workers is significantly higher. When you are sleep deprived, your brain goes into micro-sleeps lasting a couple of seconds at the most but we don't always realise it is happening. When you are driving these split seconds of unconsciousness are the most dangerous. How long should you nap for? If you have the luxury of choosing how long you can nap; I’d base it on the amount of sleep you achieved before your shift. If you were lucky and got your ~8 hours, a shorter nap of 15 mins - 30 mins may be enough to hold off the effects of fatigue later in your shift. If your sleep is heavily disrupted I would consider taking longer naps of 40 mins to 90 mins if possible, this will take you through more of the sleep cycle, increasing the recovery benefits. Where to nap Time is precious, so make the most of it by having a good environment to nap. If you don’t have access to a Rest Space or other forms of sleeping areas or sleeping pods then think quiet, dark, and cool. If you can get away from your work area your brain may find it a bit easier to switch off. Our sleep quality is impacted by the psychological arousal caused by our work environments. Studies on patients found their sleep quality was reduced in hospital environments with the noise of monitors and machines compared to the same environments with music to mask this noise. Laying down also improves your sleep quality as opposed to sleeping on a chair When we sleep our temperature drops, so having a cosy but cool environment can help with the time it takes to fall asleep Light is a key signal to our bodies that it's daytime and we need to be awake, getting somewhere dark, or covering your face will improve the quality of your nap What other factors can help to adjust to night shifts On top of napping, you can help your body adjust slightly better to nightshifts, by understanding your own body clock and find out when it is tuned to being awake and active. Knowing this can help you adjust your mealtimes, light exposure and sleep patterns to make the adjustment a bit smoother. If you are an early type and like to go to bed early and wake up early you may find it more beneficial to have your main sleep period just before your night shift. If you are a late-type and tend to go to bed a bit later and wake up a bit later you would probably adjust a bit better if you had your main sleep period straight after your nightshift. Limiting the light you are exposed to a few hours before you sleep can help with the adjustment and improve the quality of sleep you are able to get. Closing the curtains in your home, wearing sunglasses if you are outside, or on your way home from work, dimming your indoor lighting, and avoiding devices are some of the ways you can do this. Increasing the light when you wake up will also help your body adjust to your new rhythm slightly better. If it is still daylight, spend at least 10 min outside in the first couple hours of you waking up, a great time to have your ‘morning’ cuppa. Optimal eating times vary for all of us, here are some things to think about: Large high protein meals close to our bedtime generally interfere with our sleep as our body is spending time and energy digesting food instead of getting you ready to switch off Caffeine has a quarter-life of 12 hours so try to avoid it in the second half of your shift. Caffeine blocks your adenosine receptors, which is a key hormone for getting you ready to sleep More research needs to be done on this but one case study by Dr Amy M. Bender found one of her athletes was waking up to 22 times an hour when he drank caffeine before bed without realising. Like many of us, he had no trouble falling asleep after a coffee and didn’t think it impacted his sleep. Alcohol and sleeping pills also impact the quality of your sleep so reconsider using these as sleeping aides. Your brain is very active during sleep with brain waves looking similar to waking levels, sleeping pills sedate you and are suspected to minimize the brain's activity levels that are generally seen in sleep. The last thing I would mention is don’t let the stigma of napping on the job stop you from getting the rest you need. From our research, we have found that most health care workers think they are being judged by colleagues for napping at work, but in fact, most of the people we surveyed said napping on the job makes them better at their work. In the case of nightshifts, your work directly impacts your sleep so your work should be supportive of your efforts to counteract this and improve your wellbeing and performance. Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about night shift naps. Related reading Napping for night shift bliss - How to nap on night shifts (Part 2/2) How to transform UK healthcare environments to support doctors and medical students to care for patients - Professor Michael West and Dame Denise Coia on behalf of General Medical Council Are nap pods in hospitals here to stay? Why should you get paid to sleep on the job?

I often find napping ‘advice’ not so straightforward. News articles tries to give you tips from authors who have little interest in sleep, and often just pick up on the ‘latest’ study and apply it to the general population. To nap or not to nap is often the question. Limiting it to these binary conditions means we often ignore all the grey areas in-between; like when to nap? How to nap? What to do if you are unsuccessfully trying to nap? Many scientific papers have already concluded that napping is good for you. The few reasons not to nap is generally based on if you have insomnia or medical reasons not to nap. If you live your life on a regular daytime schedule and you are napping 1 or more hours a day, then you need to understand why you need to nap so much so regularly. There may be an underlying health problem or issues with your nighttime sleep. If you are a night shift worker, you are already subjected to sleep deprivation and need to understand how napping supplements this sleep deprivation. Circadian disruption and your environment are two factors that play a role in night shift sleep deprivation. Let’s look at what roles they play. Circadian disruption Circadian disruption is one of the many challenges that come with shift work. Your circadian rhythm regulates many key processes in your body such as your sleep wake cycle. Your circadian rhythm makes sure your body’s processes are optimised at various points across a 24hr day and are connected to your internal clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Humans are strongly governed by the sun, with light being one of the strongest timekeepers (zeitgeber) that our internal body clock uses to stay on track with the 24hr day. Jürgen Aschoff found in his bunker experiments that when our internal body clocks are left to ‘run freely’ they struggle to keep to 24hrs. Exposure to light at certain times of day will either lengthen or shorten your internal day to keep it in sync with the Earth’s rotation. Within the 24hr cycle, we all have different times when our body processes are optimal such as our sleep-wake cycle or digestive system. In our sleep-wake cycle, some people get the onset of sleep earlier and prefer to wake up earlier, while others are late types and prefer to sleep later and wake up later. We also see a difference in how much sleep people need; some of us it's around 7 hours and others can be 9 hours. The great thing with averages is that few people fit into the average, so it is often useful to look at sleep need and timing as a range with 8 hours being the average. When working night shifts, our internal clock never fully adjusts to it; that’s why many of us struggle the most during a shift in the few hours after we would have normally gone to bed. The exposure to light and the challenges to keep a regular eating schedule for many nightshift workers makes it harder to adjust. The result is sleep deprivation; when you finally get a chance to sleep your body doesn’t want to sleep and your circadian rhythms are all over the place. Even though you are exhausted, you tend to not get the full amount of sleep you would need and the quality of sleep you have is more disrupted. It's like living in constant jetlag. Over 20 years of research has shown the impact circadian disruption has on the health of nightshift workers, to an extent that the world health organisation now classifies circadian disruption as a potential carcinogen. Environmental disruption The environment around us plays a big part in being able to switch off and fall asleep. If you sleep during the day, you can be affected by the light around you, as mentioned before light plays a big part in the circadian disruption. The noise from the street, cars and housemates can impact the quality of sleep we have even if we are able to nod off. In addition to this, you tend to be more physiologically aroused as people are out and about doing things and the world around you is awake. These factors can shorten your sleep time; it is the sociable hours where we want to meet our friends, do our shopping, and go to the bank. Many night shift workers feel some level of pressure to do things during the day when they should actually be sleeping. How does shift work disrupt – and how can napping help counteract them? I am only going to talk about the short-term impact of shift work sleep disruption and how it affects your day. There is lots of research on the long-term implications of sleep disruption from night shifts but that’s for another article. Sleep deprivation can affect your appetite and cravings, cognitive ability and alertness, your mood, and insomnia (your ability to get to sleep and stay asleep at night). These are just some of the impacts of sleep deprivation. When you are sleep deprived even for a couple of hours your body craves foods rich in carbohydrates and sugar, your hormones (ghrelin and leptin) are disrupted so you tend to get hungry more and eat more food when sleep deprived and on top of this, your self-control is also reduced. This doesn’t just impact your decision-making with food but all of your general decision-making. A lack of sleep depletes your self-control; the less you sleep, the worse you become at filtering the prejudices you know are wrong. Napping can improve the time it takes to make a decision and the quality of the decision. Research led by the University of Bristol looked at whether a short period of sleep can help us process unconscious information and how this might affect behavior and reaction time. The findings reveal the benefits of a short bout of sleep on cognitive brain function and found that even during short bouts of sleep we process information that we are not consciously aware of. A few hours of sleep deprivation can also impact your mood; you tend to adopt a more negative bias towards events around you, which can result in higher emotive responses to stressful situations. When you are sleeping your body reduces your cortisol levels and helps your brain process what you have been through the previous day. People suffering from sleep deprivation will tend to have higher levels of cortisol (the hormone associated with fight or flight) and their reactions to events around them will tend to be more erratic. A study at the University of Michigan by Jennifer Goldschmied found that after waking from a 60-minute midday nap, people were less impulsive and had a greater tolerance for frustration than people who watched an hour-long nature documentary instead. One of the most commonly touted reasons for not having a nap is sleep inertia; the groggy feeling you have when you wake up. I feel the message is delivered wrong, we shouldn’t avoid napping because of sleep inertia, we should manage sleep inertia. Generally, the groggy feeling will last for 15 minutes after you wake up and you will not get it after every nap. You can anticipate this by taking a walk, getting fresh air, or not diving into mentally straining work as soon as you come out of your nap. This can make the inertia period more pleasant. Overall the improvements you get from the nap far outweigh a groggy feeling when you wake up. An analysis of 13 mixed-method studies found that ‘despite short periods of sleep inertia immediately following naps; night shift napping can lead to decreased sleepiness and improved sleep-related performance. As you can see, there is a significant impact on your day from sleep deprivation, and getting a nap to compensate for this can be very valuable. I often hear that a health care workers operating at 50% is still equivalent to ‘the average person’ operating at 100%, it makes me smile because I can appreciate how hard they work but you deserve the opportunity to function at 100%. Don’t limit yourself or your team by failing to get enough rest. Check out our next piece on how to nap during a night shift. We will look at what times, how long, and where. We will also look at ways you can improve your sleep when you are working night shifts. Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about nightshift naps. Related reading Napping for night shift bliss - How to nap on night shifts (Part 2/2) How to transform UK healthcare environments to support doctors and medical students to care for patients - Professor Michael West and Dame Denise Coia on behalf of General Medical Council Are nap pods in hospitals here to stay? Why should you get paid to sleep on the job? #nappods #sleeppods #workplacewellbeing

Napping is a cross-cultural phenomenon which occurs across the lifespan - Dr Kimberly Cote Professor, MSc, PhD, Psychology As the new year begins many of us started to focus on learning a new skill or starting a new job or in many cases both. How many times has the overwhelming sense of what we have to learn led us to looking for productivity hacks? Do some of us do the ‘look, cover, write’ method? Are there ways to speed up the transition to be the ideal humans we aspire to be? Getting out of your comfort zone doesn't mean you must forgo comfort and learning new skills doesn't mean you must sacrifice your rest. In fact, having a nice cosy nap can speed up your memory retention and make it more effective. Having a nice cosy nap can speed up your memory retention and make it more effective. To some of you reading this it must seem like a contradiction. Spend more time resting so I can be smarter. Well, bare with me while I put forward the case for your afternoon naps, they no longer need to be cheeky naps or guilty pleasures. When we are starting a new job or acquiring a new skill we have a lot of learning to do. To really learn something effectively we need to be able to remember it and then apply it. Nothing is worse than spending time learning something new but then struggling to remember it when you need it the most. Or you learn something, but miss the opportunities you could have used it. Napping during the day can improve how much you remember, how long you remember it for, and your ability to apply this new information in more out of the box ways. Napping enhances memory Our memory recall works by transferring new recent memories into long-term permanent memory stores in our brain, most of which happens when we are sleeping. Sleep is an important step in our learning process. Short naps can help with improving the memory of information (declarative memory) and longer naps can help with improving your ‘muscle memory’ (procedural memory). The relationship between napping and memory has been identified by many studies such this one by Ju Lynn Ong, et al. who that found “participants who had a 90-minute afternoon nap in addition to a habitual, nonrestricted night of sleep encoded 21% more word pairs on average than those who stayed awake during the nap period. “ If our learning is 21% more effective, does that mean we can spend 21% less time learning? I'm not sure it works exactly that way but it can help you understand how effective prioritising your naps can be. If you've started a new job you have lots to take in, whether it is your new team's names, new processes, and what the company does. Make the most of this intensive flood of information by scheduling naps during your working day. This will help you more effectively store and understand all the information you are absorbing. The same goes when you are learning a new skill, we often feel the need to grind through and dedicate as much time to it as possible. In fact, taking a nap helps you pick it up faster and apply more creativity. Taking a nap helps you pick it up faster and apply more creativity Napping enhances creativity Research led by the University of Bristol looked at whether a short period of sleep can help us process unconscious information and how this might affect behaviour and reaction time. They found that even during short bouts of sleep we process information that we are not consciously aware of. Sleep has 2 main phases; REM (rapid eye movement sleep) and non-REM. Together they consist of 5 stages you cycle through while asleep. During REM information flows more freely between different brain networks. We take all the information we have previously learned and we start to link it to the new information in ways we couldn’t do while awake. The brain starts to explore new and abstract associations between the information we have stored. You wake up with new connections between what you know allowing you to see things from new perspectives. There is a reason the phrase ‘just sleep on it’ is a common solution to problems you can’t solve. There are numerous anecdotal stories of great discoveries coming to people while they napped. Dmitri Mendeleev is said to have dreamt of the periodic table after years of trying to find connections between the elements, and Paul Marcatney claims to have woken up with the song 'Yesterday' in his head and rolled over to his piano next to his bed to play it before he forgot it. One study showing the benefit of napping in creative problem solving got two groups to solve a complex problem which had a hidden rule found. They found 60% of the group that had a nap in-between solving the problem found the hidden rule. Only 20% of the control group found the hidden rule. Next time you have a problem to solve try prioritising your naps. Tips Don't nap in the 5hr window before you go to bed - to make sure you can still hit the hay at night. Schedule naps into your day and prioritise them - it's too easy to get caught up in what you are doing and you miss an opportunity to cement your learning. Make it a habit to get the most out of napping - great naps take practice Nap in a bed - studies have shown that compared to napping in a seat you have a much better rest (improvement in alertness and mood) from napping in a bed There is always time - Even short naps up to 10 min have shown to be effective for memory improvement and mood. Nap after a learning session - Regular breaks are important, nap breaks can help you retain the information you learned quicker. Check out our blog for more tips on how to make the most of your naps Improve your nap when working from home

As we are moving deeper into the colder months and with a lot of talk of vaccines in the world at the moment; we decided to focus this month’s blog on sleep and its relationship with our immune systems. Over the years, we are coming to a realisation that sleep affects virtually every process in our bodies; and as we look more into sleep and our physical health, we are finding that sleep can also have an effect on our immune systems. Sleep and Vaccinations Vaccines work by introducing a weakened or deactivated form of the virus into your body, triggering an immune response. In a way, it teaches your body to identify and attack that antigen. In 2012, an experiment was carried out to see whether there was a relationship between sleep and the antibody response when the participants were given the hepatitis B vaccine. The researchers, based out of Pittsburgh, found that the people who slept less than six hours on average per night were less likely to have an antibody response to the vaccine and therefore were 11.5 times more likely to be unprotected by the vaccine than the people who slept seven or more hours on average. “Based on our findings and existing laboratory evidence, sleep may belong on the list of behavioral risk factors that influence vaccination efficacy,” lead author Aric Prather, PhD, a clinical health psychologist Similar kinds of studies have been conducted with the Hepatitis A vaccine and H1N1 swine flu vaccines with similar results. Though some of these involve total sleep deprivation before or after the vaccination, others have seen reduced vaccine effectiveness in adults who habitually fail to get at least seven hours of sleep. People who get insufficient sleep may not give their bodies enough time to develop immunological memory, potentially leaving them unprotected despite having been vaccinated. Sleep and Covid-19 Vaccine Last week, the UK MHRA approved the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use; this would be the first mRNA vaccine of its kind to be approved in an infectious disease. The differences is that instead of injecting us with a deactivated virus, the vaccine contains a small piece of mRNA from Covid-19. If you can imagine an IKEA instructional booklet being the full instructions on how to create a Covid-19 virus, this small mRNA is a torn page from that instruction booklet. And this small mRNA will encode segment of Covid-19 for us to respond to. This mRNA will be taken into our body and produce a small piece of Covid-19, small enough so you won’t fall ill to it but enough for our bodies to react and produce antibodies to fight against it. Essentially a similar process as we saw from the Hepatitis B vaccine above but our body creates a small piece of the Covid-19 virus for us to have an immune response to. With the mounting evidence that sleep has on our immune systems, the researchers at Walter Reed Medical Centre plans to have one group of participants sleep up to ten hours for a few nights before receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. “Over and over, we show that people who got insufficient amounts of sleep were more likely to get sick when we exposed them to a virus. It clearly plays a role in health and well-being.” - Aric Prather Though not a confirmation that sleep will let you respond to the vaccine better, it is one of the factors we have control over to help us fight against Covid-19. On top of that, we could also do with a couple more hours of sleep for our general well being and being more productive in the workplace. Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about sleep and vaccine.

I've been wanting to write a piece on the stigma of napping at work but Sara Alger, Allison Brager, and Vincent Capaldi have done a much better job with this in their Challenging the stigma of workplace napping article published in the Sleep Research Society Journal. The article looks at the common pushback people have when talking about napping at work. Here is a snippet from their 3 main points: “Why Should Someone Get Paid to Sleep on the Job?” People are already napping on the job, why not make it more of a benefit to your team and company? "Employees already seek out covert naps, and internet tips for “sneaking in a nap at work” reveal unsanitary (restroom) and uncomfortable (car) locations as top sites for napping. If employers embraced workplace napping, this option could produce a comparatively more marked and sustained increase in productivity" “I Don’t Have Time to Nap. I Have Too Much Work.” Pushing through dips are counterproductive and produces lower quality work with more mistakes. Have a nap and improve your productivity "During an average work afternoon, a disproportion of the circadian alerting signal to the rising homeostatic sleep pressure occurs, resulting in increased sleepiness and reduced alertness. These factors, along with other impacted cognitive and emotional performance metrics, resulting in decreased productivity. There is a wealth of evidence that brief daytime naps of 10–20 minutes decrease subjective sleepiness, increase objective alertness, and improve cognitive performance " “You Must be Lazy if You Take Naps.” Humans have been napping for as long as we can look back. In Japan its seen as a sign of working very hard. "This statement reflects the most damaging and pervasive stigma placed upon napping. However, this argument is based largely in ignorance and companies are beginning a movement to counteract it. Google, Uber, Nike, Cisco, Zappos, Huffington Post, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Proctor & Gamble, and Ben & Jerry’s. Not only do these companies encourage workplace naps, but they provide accommodations, such as rooms secluded for the purpose of napping, often equipped with nap pods or beds." At [Rest Space] we have spoken to hundreds of people in the UK to understand their habits around workplace napping and found on average 80% of people think naps are great for them. When we ask these same people what other people think of them napping they say they feel they are viewed as lazy and should get fired. The scary thing for me is the data showed that caffeine is the biggest go-to when fatigued followed by snacking. 3 things to highlight about caffeine Caffeine makes you feel more alert but it's not likely to it improve your performance when you are tired. A number of studies have found that caffeine does not reverse the effects of sleepiness when it comes to high-risk decision making and memory consolidation. You can say it treats the sleepiness symptom but not actually the underlying impact of sleepiness. Caffeine affects your sleep quality, even if you don’t think it doesn’t. In one of her studies, Dr Amy Bender found that an athlete was waking up to 22 times an hour after drinking coffee at night time despite them being adamant a nighttime coffee didn't affect their sleep. Caffeine’s quarter-life is 12 hrs, meaning that it can take up to 12hrs for your body to remove three-quarters of the caffeine you had. It affects your sleep quantity; research has shown drinking caffeine even 6 hours before bed reduces your sleep time by up to one hour. If napping is so natural for humans where did this stigma come from? The image of a shepherd or farm hand having a nap in the afternoon is ingrained in many of our minds. The prevalence of the boss napping on the sofa in the office is commonplace in many TV shows such as Mad Men. Did it come about when we started to look at productivity solely as time spent working instead of quality or creativity? For many of us, technology has replaced the jobs that required repetition and mindless tasks where time working was probably closer to measure your productivity. Now many of our jobs require more human connection, complex decision making, and creativity. These are not directly proportional to the time spent working. Let us work smarter not harder. 'The challenge is to continue the spread of information regarding the wealth of benefits of napping to combat the numerous physical, mental, and financial consequences of fatigue. The long-term plan is to normalize and implement scheduled napping during working hours.' Sara E Alger et al Well, what can I do? First, take 5 minutes to read Challenging the stigma of workplace napping by Sara E Alger et al Start napping and don't worry about letting people know you nap, chances are they do too. Lastly, management is responsible for promoting a culture of physiological safety when it comes to napping at work. If you believe in employee wellness, here are some things to think about. Many organizations are doing this very visibly by introducing nap pods and wellbeing rooms into the office. Others are allowing more flexible work schedules and running sleep and wellness webinars for the benefit of their employees, some have even explicitly stated their napping policy in their work contracts. If you are not in a position to influence it, raise it next time your employee survey comes around. Get in touch with RestSpaceLDN if you would like to learn more about this topic.