The Health Benefits and Cultural Misadventures of Afternoon Siestas

By  Virgilio C. Ventura

An afternoon nap is a Filipino cultural practice that has been derogatorily magnified by the Spanish colonials as proof of our people’s laziness while excusing themselves of the same practice that they call siesta.  In fact, we can readily cite the picaresque character of Juan Tamad who is in constant napping sessions under the guava tree waiting for the fruit to fall directly into his mouth. Where present day Filipinos fashionably downplays the importance of history as an academic discipline, the socio-cultural story of Juan Tamad should be re-examined as instructive on how our people’s historical past can illuminate us on our contemporary societal problems as Juan Tamad provides a means to examine more deeply the Philippines’ attitudes toward work and creativity, as well as the various factors that have shaped and continue to shape them.^1/

Far from denying or making excuses for the Filipinos predisposition to siestas, our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal wrote a steering illumination on the causes of this trait in his socio-political essay “Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos,” (La Solidaridad, Madrid, 1890). Rather than admitting it as cause, Rizal explicates the Filipinos’ indolence as a circumstantial effect of: 1) Philippine tropical climate that predisposes our people to afternoon slumbers; and 2) the exploitative European surplus economic system that sucks on our people’s energy and motivation to work.

“We must confess that indolence does actually and positively exist there; only that, instead of holding it to be the cause of the backwardness and the trouble, we regard it as the effect of the trouble and the backwardness, by fostering the development of a lamentable predisposition.” – Jose Rizal, The Indolence of the Filipino.^2/

Sleep is a vital behavior in human existence. Sleep loss produces drowsiness which is regarded as the main cause behind impaired performances, decreasing productivity, and increasing incidences and accidents throughout the day.^3/ In a study of Saper et al (2005), sleep and wakefulness are (found to be) regulated by mutual interaction between the sleep-promoting system and the ascending arousal system that function like an electrical “on-off” switch to ensure behavioral state stability.^4/ Campbell (1992) and Bes et al. (2009) have it that daytime drowsiness and related deficit in performances naturally occur in the early afternoon hours.^5/

While short naps or siestas appear to reduce blood pressure and decrease the prevalence of hypertension,^6/ Milner and Cote (2009) also cites laboratory studies (that) showed that a short midday nap is an effective strategy to counteract the drawbacks of the post-lunch phase and to promote evident improvement in cognitive and physical performances throughout the day. The impacts of a short midday nap on performance are modulated by several factors, including the previous amount of sleep and wakefulness, the environment of sleep during the nap, and performance measures.^7/ Among athletes, short midday naps are also called restorative or recuperative naps as studies have been conducted to determine its benefit in relation to sleep loss.^8/ “NASA scientists discovered that a 26-minute nap improved pilot performance by a whopping 34 percent — and companies such as Google, Samsung, Procter & Gamble, and Ben & Jerry’s not only allow but actually encourage employees to take snooze breaks.^9/

In general, typical afternoon (power) naps are positively practiced at no longer than 20 minutes as a light booster alertness sleep without necessarily going into a deep slumber that can cause grogginess or complete physical inertia. A 20-minute siesta may enhance wellness, productivity, and efficiency.

NOTES:

1/   Ari Santiago, More than Juan Way to Do It: Work Ethics and Creativity in the Philippines, Straightarrow Creative Process Outsourcing, September 17, 2016. https://www.straightarrow.com.ph/blog/more-than-juan-way-to-do-it-work-ethics-and-creativity-in-the-philippines

2/   Ambeth R. Ocampo, -@inquirerdotnet, The indolence of the Filipino, Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 15, 2019. https://opinion.inquirer.net/120136/the-indolence-of-the-filipino#ixzz7egfGY2x8

3/   Markov, D. and Goldman, M., 2006. Normal sleep and circadian rhythms: neurobiologic mechanisms underlying sleep and wakefulness. Psychiatric Clinics, 29 (4), 841–853.

4/   Saper, C.B., Scammell, T.E., and Lu, J., 2005. Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms. Nature, 437 (7063), 1257–1263.

5/   Campbell, S.S., 1992. The timing and structure of spontaneous naps. In: Why we nap. Springer, 71–81, and Bes, F., Jobert, M., and Schulz, H., 2009. Modeling napping, post-lunch dip, and other variations in human sleep propensity. Sleep, 32 (3), 392–398.

6/   Cai M, Huang Y, Sun X, He Y, Sun C. Siesta is associated with reduced systolic blood pressure level and decreased prevalence of hypertension in older adults. Journal of human hypertension. 2016;30:216–218. doi: 10.1038/jhh.2015.70.

7/   Milner, C.E. and Cote, K.A., 2009. Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Journal of sleep research, 18 (2), 272– 281.

8/   Petit, E., Bourdin, H., Tio, G., Yenil, O., Haffen, E., and Mougin, F., 2018. Effects of a 20-min nap post normal and jet lag conditions on P300 components in athletes. International journal of sports medicine, 39 (07), 508–516.

9/   Barbara Stepko, Anatomy of the perfect nap, AARP, April 11, 2019. https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2019/design-perfect-naps.html