Is this you at work?
It is around 2:30 in the afternoon and you are dying to take a power nap! Well now, thanks to science, you might be able to at work.
The New York Times shared a revelation that may not be a shocker to women everywhere! Of course we would LOVE to take a quick nap at work to wake up revitalized, refreshed, productive, and even happier.
But why do we need that nap. Well female brains are wired to need more sleep than men. Maybe just 20 minutes more, but maybe quite a bit more.
"We're tired because we're not sleeping enough. And we're not sleeping enough because we're women."
The sociologist Suzanne Bianchi analyzed American Time Use Survey data and found that women, working mothers in particular, give up both sleep and leisure time. We may be running on fumes, but we're still showing up to work on time, hoping for that 20-minute nap break later in the day to get even more done in the afternoon.
Brigid Schulte, who analyzed the chaotic lives of Americans in her bestselling book, "Overworked: Work, Love and Play when No One Has the Time," told Marie Claire that one reason women are so exhausted is the "mental labor" that women are still expected to do, which means women are typically the ones in charge of keeping the social calendars, remembering birthdays, packing lunches, and scheduling dentist appointments.
On top of that, there's the "emotional labor," which, she says, includes "taking everyone's temperature, reading everyone's signals, making sure everyone is having a good time, happy, satisfied, their needs met...it really takes a physical and mental toll."
A break may be nice for some of us, but to truly take time off, we'll need a partner or co-worker to take up their share of the mental and emotional load.
So, yes, take that nap at work and cite the New York Times when doing so. You'll wake up refreshed and recharged, and cite your boost in productivity when a manager comes by. But we already know women are working harder than men, and with better results (yet still fewer promotions), so perhaps we'll need a more clever excuse than the Times' Smarter Living section.
Perhaps it's time to reexamine why we value women's time differently than men's, and if it's okay for some office warriors to take a quick 20 minute nap, then women should find a way to do so, too, and as the Times advises, "apologize to no one" for it.
Source: Cosmopolitan