Portugal’s reputation as one of the sleepiest nations of Europe is something to be proud of, according to a pressure group intent on saving the country’s traditional, but threatened, after-lunch siesta.
An early afternoon snooze was ”not a vice of deadbeats” but a means of increasing productivity and reducing workplace accidents, according to the 18 artists, politicians and writers who have founded the Association of Friends of the Siesta.
”This is no joke,” said Miguel Medeiros, a Socialist deputy, after the association presented its founding charter in the hill town of Leiria.
It declared members would ”spread and promote the practice of sleeping siestas as a restful pause in the middle of the working day which produces harmonious biological rhythms, frees us from stress and improves the quality of life at the psychosomatic level”.
It called on the Portuguese government to follow the example of China where, it claimed, the mid-day nap is protected by law. The association recommended the short, sharp siesta – a 20 minute nap that refreshes without plunging you into a state of torpor.
The campaigners pointed to scientific studies, including one by Nasa, which showed that productivity increased by up to 34% after a mid-day nap. Writer Jose Agualusa blamed lack of sleep for many of the world’s worst disasters, claiming US investigators had shown that ”we are ruled by people who sleep badly and are proud of it.”
Among successful leaders who took siestas were, the association claimed, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle and Portugal’s ex-president Mario Soares. – Guardian Unlimited Â