Napping is for toddlers and lazy people? "No way!" Says our author. She completely agrees with researchers from all over the world: Napping in the afternoon is sacred. Only that the German daily routine somehow doesn't quite allow that …
Today I really can no longer understand why, at the tender age of two, I just decided to stop beating myself in the ear at noon while the world goes on and on. Incredible! Who willingly give up this luxury? Well, back then you made a number of decisions that would be regulated a little differently today. But still, that went too far! Fortunately, I know better today and I am doing my best to integrate this luxury into my life again. By the way, scientists agree with me (and if scientists agree with you, it is official): The afternoon nap is not only nice, it has been shown to increase my performance, improve my blood values and protect me from depression. However, if you want to but are not allowed to, you are all the more at risk.
I would love to be Italian
In any case, taking a nap after lunch is only so compatible with German office hours. Copiers are not very convenient, and keyboards beep after pressing the same letter about 20 times with the tip of your nose. Sometimes the hardworking colleagues don't go down that well either. For many of our European neighbors, however, the afternoon nap is completely acceptable. Italy, for example: You work until noon, then you take a two or three hour break. Some lay down on the beach after a small lunch, others in their own bed. Sounds like paradise? I agree! Even if it isn't geographically, Italy feels very, very far away on this point. And the system also has a small catch: Try to get something quickly at the supermarket in an Italian village at lunchtime. You feel like a time traveler in a ghost town. Nobody on the go and without a cashier on duty there is nothing to buy.
Somehow everything isn't the way it used to be at the weekend either
Do you still know those little signs on houses that read "Please note the afternoon rest"? You don't see them anymore because the midday rest has actually simply been abolished! Just like that, bang boom, you all stay awake now, the jackhammer can do what it wants and the neighbor rings – whether you like it or not. The result: There are a lot of zombies in Germany from 1 p.m. onwards. Empty, tired shells with brain power blazing halfway through the fire. You can really recover from this midday low only in the evening. It could be so easy: Just lie down for a moment, close your eyes, relax your muscles and recharge your batteries on the beach in Rimini.
The afternoon nap will die out
If we don't finally get up together (in order to be able to lie down again afterwards at noon), the nap will soon die out. Even the smallest ones are trimmed to be zombies. In most all-day schools, of course, there is no rest between lunch and homework. Even in daycare centers, 3 is usually the end of it. If you fall asleep over your spaghetti plate, you'll wake up again. Why? Because parents don't want their children to be in top shape until 10 p.m. And why don't you want that? Because they've been zombies since 1 p.m. and haven't had a quiet minute all day. Noticed? We are spinning in a circle.
Midday nap is inherent in us
We hate to hear it – but de facto people are somehow also something like animals. And when I think of animals at lunchtime, I see dozing lions, comfortably lolling cats, curled up dogs and hanging sloths in front of me. Well, the latter don't count, they always hang. But also in humans the need for a midday rest is biological. This was found out in so-called bunker experiments. Several people live in bunkers for several days during such experiments – completely isolated from the outside world and without clocks or daylight. They have tasks to do, but should be mindful of their needs. This is how you gain knowledge about your internal clock. You will guess it: these people all lay down at noon.
I want to sleep – and not in the bunker!
What do we learn from it? We Germans really have a blast in some ways! Because of the sheer efficiency and meaningfulness we have – at least when it comes to sleeping – really lost our grip. I hereby advocate internship for all Germans in Italy with a focus on afternoon nap. That would be a sensible way of spending our tax money. God, we'd all be refreshed if we could learn something from the Italians. So relaxed we would have invented such beautiful things as pizza and ice cream, then that's no art. And please don't come to me with German inventions like beer or light bulbs. I know myself that my argument is completely gaga – after all, I didn't have an afternoon nap! Grrr!