Do you know what is one of the most frustrating things I find in this life?..... When my eyes keep shutting down because I'm so tired that I just can't keep them open!
Look back and think about the amount of times you wished you could just crawl under your desk when you are at work, or hide away while sitting through a really boring lecture at university, or when you are in the train and your stop is getting close.... you know that if you close your eyes you will miss it!!
OK, so there isn't much you can do when you are falling asleep in a train, and in fact you can actually sleep!! There isn't much you could do when you were at uni. But what about work??!!!
I claim my right to have a siesta after lunch!!!
And why not? I think that having a siesta would make me much more productive, but not only that, it would make me a happier person! If I spend up to an hour trying to keep my eyes open and fighting tiredness, compare that with the 20 minutes that a power nap would take! Imagine this, you have your lunch and break, you disappear for 20 minutes, or crawl under your desk. Passed the 20 minutes you sit back on your chair and start working....... Your eyes are open, you don't feel tired, you don't spend the next hour dreaming about sleeping, you are ready and prepared to start work straight away. Plus, what is more important, you are in a much better mood.
And believe me, who in this world would not want to have happy us at work with a broad smile in your faces?
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Course we'd then have to work until 8pm...
But I do like the idea of a siesta.
About 'siesta'... do you know that former President Mário Soares (1986-1991) -- one of the leading personalities from Portuguese democracy -- acknowledge on an interview by the occasion of his 87th birthday, last December, 7th, that one of his secrets has to take a nap whenever it's possible.
I don't resist to remember this episode: some years back at a Conference hold in my College in an Saturday afternoon, former Spanish Ambassador to Portugal Raul Morodo (who, by the way, I was honoured to meet several times and interviewed at his office at the Spanish Embassy) deliver his speech... Dr. Mário Soares was seating back alone in the first line at the auditorium... when somehow we notice a change in the line of speech from the Ambassador -- who was always a very polite person -- and then... he just said "Mário Soares está aprovechando para hacer una siesta...” Everybody laugh because we all know about his habit. Of course we understood as well no one likes when people are not paying attention to what we're saying... One should add that they are very good friends and on the diplomatic corridors everybody knows that Dr. Mário Soares was the one who urged king Juan Carlos to appoint Prof. Raul Morodo to Lisbon.
To finish this comment I went search for some historical background to this old saying: "If you want to invade China choose the 'siesta' hour" and find this info:
"In South Asia, the idea of a post-lunch nap is common, and the idea of going to sleep after a light massage with mustard oil to induce drowsiness was very popular before industrialization. It was also very popular to consume a light snack during this ritual; it was thought that this practice would make one a better person.[citation needed] In Bengal, the word which describes the concept is bhat-ghum, literally meaning "rice-sleep", a nap after lunch. In north India a colloquial term sustānā (सुस्ताना), which literally means "taking small nap" (possibly of Persian origin), is used, although it does not necessarily mean siesta but it is used in same way. According ayurveda vamkukshi (nap in the afternoon) for 15-30 minutes after lunch is good for your health, it does not mean deep sleep but just lying down.
Afternoon sleep is also a common habit in China and Taiwan after the midday meal. This is called wujiao (午覺) in Chinese. Almost all schools in Mainland China and Taiwan have a half-hour nap period right after lunch. This is a time when all lights are out and one is not allowed to do anything other than rest or sleep.
Some Japanese offices have special rooms known as napping rooms for their workers to take a nap during lunch break or after overtime work.
In Islam, it is encouraged to take a nap before Dhuhr (midday) , for those doing tahajjud later in the night.[original research?]
In the United States, the United Kingdom, and a growing number of other countries, a short sleep has been referred to as a "power nap", a term coined by Cornell University social psychologist James Maas and recognized by other research scientists such as Sara Mednick as well as in the popular press." (in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta)
Now if I could... I would very much love to take a nap. But I can't.
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