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Spanish Siesta Culture Lets Entrepreneur Turn Naps Into Gold (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Bloomberg report: There's little that's more Spanish than the afternoon siesta. As the mid-day sun goes up, businesses in small-town Spain pull down their shutters for a traditional nap. In big urban centers, modern business trends have ended that habit, leaving many Spaniards who work long hours exhausted. Now, Maria Estrella Jorro de Inza has found a way to bring back the siesta, making money while her countrymen nap. Bankers, lawyers and consultants catch up on their sleep at Siesta and Go -- Madrid's first nap-bar located in Azca, in the heart of the city's financial district that's home to firms like HSBC, Google and Deloitte. The concept is simple: for just 14 euros ($16) an hour, you get to unwind and take a power nap in a private bedroom before heading back to work. "It's funny that we're known for the siesta, but we haven't been professional about it," said De Inza, the nap-bar's 32-year-old founder. "We get a lot of men in suits who just want to relax and women wanting to take their heels off. Lunch break is the busiest time."
...a hotel that's pay by the hour. I don't know why nobody has ever thought of this before!
Man, there are days I'd actually pay $16 to crash out on a real bed at lunchtime instead of snoozing in the front seats of my vehicle in the parking lot. I may fold up rather well but it doesn't mean I wouldn't like to stretch out.
I believe there's been scientific study into showing that the siesta isn't just something cultural, but actually human. And afternoon performance does significantly improve after the siesta. It's also not strictly Spanish, for Italy also has it.
There's a natural low in energy around 2pm or so.
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the Mid-day sun.
In the warmer latitudes, especially before air-conditioning, the post-noon hours are the hottest, most uncomfortable time of day. Between post-prandial torpor and natural biorhythm, it's only natural to want to sleep until the heat has weakend. And then there's the UV exposure factor for outdoor workers. Despite the opinions of people from chillier climates, however, this doesn't have to mean working less - more evening time is employed (also note that winter days don't get as short nearer the Equator).
Unfortunately, while a siesta is no real problem for most agricultural work or small businesses, it's harder to do when you're commuting half an hour or more to work every day and work has no napping place. And factory owners don't like it, because machines don't need to hide from the heat, and their ideal is that the worker should adapt to the machine and not vice versa.