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Comment by hungryforcodes | Hacker News Reader

I find it weird that many cultures have a noon time or afternoon time siesta -- but for some reason the Anglophone cultures don't. Something about the Protestant work ethic? (I know these are in theory secular societies, but the cultural relics remain)

When I was teaching at one of the local SEA universities they had an entire room for lecturers to sleep during the 1.5 hour lunch break. It had double bunk beds maybe 30 or so. It was well used from 12pm to 1:30pm.

I'll tell you -- this was magic. Even just being able to sleep for 30 minutes (after getting lunch and catching up on my phone) between classes was rejuvenating.

I never had that 2pm "nod off", which I did when working in Western style jobs...

My point being this is a kind of bi-phasic sleep.

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I think it has to do with temperatures. In some countries it's very hot at noon so working is difficult. Especially with air conditioning.

> I think it has to do with temperatures.

More likely shorter days as you go further North. If you slept at lunchtime until 14:30 there would be less than two hours of usable daylight left during December and January.

[Edit] - This for the latitude of Southern England.

Isn't air conditioning intended to solve the too-hot-to-work problem?

A/C is a pretty new invention. Mid-day rest is an older convention.

And it's a matter of social convention at this point rather than a practical solution to a problem. We're social animals and that tends to happen.

My point though being-- even with AC it's a good innovation. We are all chronically short on sleep these days. I'm surprised about the resistance to it in this thread.

>We are all chronically short on sleep these days. I'm surprised about the resistance to it in this thread.

People are short on sleep because they have too much stuff to do, not because there aren't enough opportunities to sleep. Adding an hour of sleep at noon isn't a free lunch (heh). You'll have one less hour of work done during the day, so all else being equal, you'll probably go to sleep 1 hour later and benefits are neutralized.

That's not true though if you were underslept in the first place. You'd just be catching up at your noon nap.

Also it is a free lunch. People sleeping DURING their lunch. I'm not sure how this would add to their workload if they are doing it anyways.

Also now everyone is remote so WHY not have a noon nap?

Even at my last startup which was in the West we had a nap couch and it was in constant use from like 1pm to 3pm.

But as I said - Anglophones seem to like punishing themselves.

Vast majority of working humans have no AC in their work environment. Highly wealthy counties like the US often forget we're in the luxury minority

I'm in India, a non-wealthy non-AC too-hot-to-work-at-noon country (for most parts of the country almost all through the year).

I was responding to this sentence:

> In some countries it's very hot at noon so working is difficult. Especially with air conditioning.

I'm confused because it sounds as if GP meant that air conditioning exacerbates the problem of it being too hot to work. The intent of installing AC is definitely to improve productivity that would be lost to the uncomfortable climate.

The most likely explanation is that it was an typo error or autocorrect.

That makes sense, thanks.

missed the "without" in the AC statement i think.

Correct. I am horrible at typing on the phone.

And that sunlight is available abundantly early morning and late evening.

I studied in a boarding school which had a mandatory meditation time around 2 pm. This was exactly the time when we would me feeling very sleepy. Probably because of peak digestion time after we finished our lunch. Anyways we all would just sleep off in the bench instead of meditating. Really helped us concentrate on the rest of the classes

Did they name it “meditation” because “sleeping at school” is inappropriate in your culture?

No. It was an actual meditation session

Light. In the global south the days are a little longer. Part of the prodistant work ethic, which comes from northern europe, is based on the far shorter workday in the winter. You dont take naps if you only have eight hours of useful daylight. Even in summer the sun is always lower on the horizon. So too the dramatic shift from summer to winter. Even in high summer no time can be wasted in preparing for winter. The drive to make use of limited time is tied to the seasons.

China and Japan would like a word…

About what exactly? I don't know about Japan but post lunch siesta is very much a thing in China. Even employees working 996 schedules take a nap.

Siestas are a thing in Japan to a limited extent, mostly for blue collar workers, especially ones who drive for a living, in the seat of their vehicle.

It would be impossible to do it otherwise.

which SEA country/university was that?

Could be any. A nap at noon isn't just popular; it's ubiquitous in SEA.

I haven't seen that happening at offices in SEA.

You haven't been working in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

You work in Singapore I assume?

It's hyper westernized.

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