Today is National Napping Day—a day dedicated to celebrating the art of the midday snooze.
As a founder of a sleep company, I spend most of my waking hours thinking about sleep. Admittedly, when we started, I was only vaguely aware of these national awareness days and weeks devoted to naps and sleep. I’ve become more acutely aware of National Napping Day and Sleep Awareness Week in the past year or so as more organizations or brands have pitched partnerships or campaigns around these moments in time.
It turns out National Napping Day was first recognized in 1999 by William Anthony and his wife Camille Anthony, who intentionally selected the Monday after the Daylight Saving when we lose an hour of rest. Makes sense.
And to be clear, there is nothing constitutionally wrong with a day that celebrates napping. In fact, it sounds pretty magical. Maybe too magical. The phrase “National Napping Day” evokes an almost mythical, storybook event where everyone is harmoniously resting, there is group meditation by the millions, and we all engage in one big global nap-a-thon where everyone comes together for world peace. Everything is tranquil and calm, free from distress and disturbance, we’re all a little more focused and friendlier—because on this one day alone, we are all a bit more rested.
The trouble with a day appointed specifically for rest means that we are complicit with the fact that we’re not well rested. I had planned to say that there isn’t a day devoted to drinking water. But alas, National Hydration Day is June 23. Mark your calendars. But we don’t wait for June 23rd to drink water if we’re thirsty. March 11 shouldn’t be the only day we prioritize sleep, nor the only day when we don’t nap shame our colleagues.
Our society still very much abides by the adage, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” or its less aggressive cousin, “you snooze, you lose.” We’re living in a dangerous “always on” hustle culture that still boasts about pulling an all-nighter. Or as the New York Times recently put it, “When did performative workaholism become a lifestyle?”
This rise-and-grind, hustle-till-I-drop mentality is actually counterproductive when you dive into the facts. There are countless studies that detail how sleep (and naps) are not only good for our health, but make us more creative, more focused, and better performers in the boardroom, classroom, and fitness room.
A Harvard Medical study has evidenced that a nap can increase cognitive function, facilitate problem-solving, bolster creative thinking, and decrease the margin for error. The American Psychological Association says lack of sleep can alter a child’s performance in school by influencing memory, reaction time, logical reasoning, and symbol recognition, and according to a study conducted by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, athletes who took a 30-minute nap increased their overall performance.