is it OK to nap at work?

by Alison Green on January 27, 2025

If you’ve ever come to work after getting a bad night’s sleep and struggled to be productive — or just awake — it’s probably occurred to you that being able to take a quick nap at work would be an incredibly worker-friendly amenity. Of course, in most offices, sleeping on the job is an absolute no-go and could get you fired … but that doesn’t stop people from looking for ways to pull it off anyway.

At Slate today, I wrote about people who openly or not so openly nap at work, as well as the companies that embrace napping on the job. You can read it here.

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{ 238 comments }

{ 238 comments… read them below or add one }

  1. UnCivilServant*

    Being asleep during working hours – either at the office or remote – is one of the few things that will very quickly get me fired. Even if it is technically my lunch time.

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    2. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

      Likewise.

      I think this is one of those issues where the overall optics will always outweigh any benefits.

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    3. JoAnna*

      If you’re remote, and it’s your lunchtime, then it’s not “working hours.” I nap during my lunch hour all the time. I am free to use my unpaid break however I want, and that includes sleeping or resting.

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      1. Lana Kane*

        Yep. I’m remote. I’m not getting paid for my lunch break, so if I need a nap I’ll take one. I set an alarm and don’t have issues with waking up. I can see someone who has issues with sleeping through alarms not wanting to.

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      2. allathian*

        Yeah, I also nap during my lunch hour all the time when I WFH and it’s never been an issue.

        That said, I did have to tell my then-manager I was pregnant much earlier than I’d planned (before I’d even told my parents or in-laws) because she found me asleep at my desk one day. She sent me home on sick leave, which was fine because ours is very generous, I’ve never been unable to take sick leave because I’ve run out.

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      3. amoeba*

        Yeah, I’m seriously surprised, like, why on earth would my employer care if I take a walk, cook lunch or take a nap on my *break*?

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    4. Clisby*

      On the other hand – I worked for years with a guy who took a nap during lunch every day. Everybody knew it, and nobody cared – it was his lunch break and that’s what he did. (We all had private offices, so that might have made a difference.)

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      1. Elizabeth West*

        At ToxicExjob, one of the engineers went out to his car every day at lunch and took a nap. He must have set an alarm on his phone because he was always back at his desk on time, without fail. He was off the clock, so what could they do? Nothing.

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        1. MigraineMonth*

          When I started at ToxicExJob, I used to occasionally nap under my desk with the office door closed, so only my office mate knew. I figured I was exempt and working mandatory overtime, so it was fine to take a short nap while waiting for the necessary software to install. I’m not sure how verboten that was; professional norms there were very screwy.

          The only time I got in trouble for sleeping on the job was when I had a bad medication reaction and fell asleep in random places throughout the day, including in small meeting including my manager. So much for “non-drowsy” cold medication!

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      2. I Have RBF*

        My boss at my last in-office job would literally nap at his desk in the open office, complete with snoring. He usually slept for half an hour, for his lunch break. It was an effective statement on what he thought of the open plan nonsense.

        IMO, if it’s your lunch break, it’s no one’s business whether you eat, run errands, read a book, or take a nap. You are not “sleeping on company time”, you are sleeping on your unpaid lunch time.

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    5. Beth*

      Really? I would expect to get in trouble if I was neglecting work in order to nap (missing meetings, not responding to urgent messages) or if it was visible (sleeping at my desk, showing up to meetings having obviously just woken up, etc). But I’ve never been in a job where anyone would care if I napped during my lunch time, especially if I went to my car or another non-work space to do it. I have a hard time imagining why anyone would care about that.

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    6. Alex*

      There was a guy where I worked, oh, probably 20 years ago, who would put his hat over his eyes, kick back, and take a nap during lunch.

      One day, some seagull managers (fly in, eat your lunch, poop on your desk, leave) were walking around and saw him.

      This did not go over well with them and the local management got yelled at.

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    7. SemiAnon*

      Whereas I work in Taiwan, where the post lunch nap is culturally approved. Go into the admin office or the engineering office between 1 and 1:30 and the overhead lights are off, heads are down, and fluffy blankets may be deployed. In the summer, construction contractors working on projects will find a place to lie down for their nap.

      I can’t do it – I’m not a napper, and even when exhausted half an hour is not long enough to fall asleep, but I think it’s a holdover from training at school here.

      Given that my job occasionally requires long haul international travel and the occasional late night/early morning meeting or overnight work, the assumption at finding someone asleep at their desk otherwise is that they’re tired from work, not slacking off.

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      1. Reluctant Mezzo*

        Someone on FB suggested a ‘sleep easy’–go off to an appointment, enter the medical office and slide to the quiet little sleeping room for a half hour or so. I bet someone could set up a “Lunchtime at Bernie’s” with private room ‘service’ and waking up service in an office building that has trouble with occupancy.

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  2. Stuart Foote*

    I am really curious about how many people have actually used one of those nap pods at Google (or those other startups that had them). I’m guessing the answer is between very few and zero.

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    1. DeliCat*

      I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. Companies like Google and Facebook were famous for their flexible working days and allowing staff to manage their schedules. This in itself came with drawbacks as employees were regularly working excessive hours, sometimes all through the night.

      Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with this practice but I can totally imagine if I had already exceeded the normal 8 hours and knew I still needed to be available in a couple of hours that I’d maybe pop in a pod for a quick nap.

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      1. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

        Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with this practice but I can totally imagine if I had already exceeded the normal 8 hours and knew I still needed to be available in a couple of hours that I’d maybe pop in a pod for a quick nap.

        Agreed. I once worked at a place with a strict half-hour lunch policy; I routinely got hour-long lunches with no pushback or repercussions–by working my 8 hours before lunch and coming back for another 4-6 hours after lunch. Non-exempt/hourly, of course.

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        1. Sam I Am*

          It’s expected that people will be at the office for very, very long hours in BigLaw, which makes it a little different than a typical 8-hour day office setting.

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    2. Adam*

      I worked at Google for years and the answer is: plenty! Naps were culturally A-OK, as long as you didn’t sleep through a meeting or something. I preferred a beanbag myself, I found them much more comfortable.

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    3. Tempanon*

      I work at Google. in my office they’re pretty well used. sometimes I’ll use one a couple times a week, sometimes go for months without using one. always helpful to recharge for 25 mins if feeling tired and a great boost to productivity imho.

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      1. Edwina*

        My former company had several rooms for Mom’s to pump milk, and there was a calendar that was used to manage their use. I was having a medication interaction (that unfortunately took me a year to figure out), and I was tired ALL THE TIME. I could make it through most of the day, but pretty regularly around 3pm, I would check the calendar to be sure no one else needed the room and then go in for a much needed nap. It was very comfortable and dark, so I had to set 2 alarms to make sure I woke up.

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    4. SeriousLime*

      Also at Google for years: the nap rooms are definitely used! There aren’t just nap pods either; they’ve got all kinds of nooks and crannies designed for you to take a nap. Some of them come with alarm clocks. My boss encouraged me to take a nap at home and not feel bad about it in fact, just about to lay down for a nap right now lol because I’m feeling pretty cranky and I think it’s related to sleep. Need to get a lot done for this afternoon so this will help. (I’m not an engineer, btw).

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    6. Grayson*

      I’m at Google too – I’m in a satellite office where there aren’t nap pods but there is a couch is a private dimly lit quarter that you see people napping on frequently. A friend of mine who does office tours tells people she will show them “her favorite places to nap.” FWIW, I’m sure there are exceptions but our team generally works 8 hour days.

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    7. Also-ADHD*

      My husband used to work in game development, and they had nap spaces people definitely used. Long hours – during crunch especially – so not a ‘cushy’ job, but there’s an understanding that you hit walls with mental fatigue and need to go do stuff, nap, etc. in programming jobs at a lot of places. (He’s in a slightly different field and we’re both remote now. I notice he often naps right before solving a big technical problem he was stuck on.)

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      2. I Have RBF*

        I notice he often naps right before solving a big technical problem he was stuck on.

        This actually works. I will pound my head on a thing for a while, get tired, go take a short nap, then come back and solve the thing. I call it a “thinking nap” – I’m literally shutting off my conscious mind with sleep so that my subconscious can solve things.

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    8. Speak*

      The company I work for was a vendor and interacted with people from Apple on a few projects. And as such, I have been to their main campus (back before the “starship campus” was built) and at some of their facilities around the world. Most of the places had sleep pods and they were used at times, not daily but probably at least weekly. They sometimes required 24hr support at launch of their products, so the teams would work around the clock with only one person off at a time, sleeping in the facility in case whatever went wrong couldn’t be fixed by someone awake. Also with facilities around the world, there is no common time for everyone, so a call at Noon East Coast US is 9am West Coast US, 1am the next day in China, & 6pm in Italy and we all needed to be in on the same call.

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    9. Annony*

      I would guess a lot. But I think it would be paired with staying for very long days/not going home sometimes. But I used to work in an academic lab where people would sometimes bring in a sleeping bag to sleep in the breakroom when they were doing a time course experiment that needed measurements every 2-3 hours for 24 hours or more.

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    10. Mademoiselle Sugar Lump*

      I was a Google employee who used them a few times. Usually an after lunch nap.
      There was a “nap pod” near my desk in one office and I’d sometimes hear snoring coming from it.

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    11. BW*

      I worked at LargeComputerCompany for 25 years. About 15 years ago they went to an open office where the cubicles barely had walls. So they also created “phone rooms” which were small offices with a phone in them for private conversations. They also had a long bench with a cushion on them built into the back wall of the small room. They had a very small, frosted window and almost no light. We called them “nap rooms.”

      I’d go into one of the “nap rooms” on a different floor from where I worked during my lunch for a nap. I was always back at my desk on time. It kept me from falling asleep at my desk at 3 p.m.

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    12. Fishsticks*

      While I can only speak for a single person, I do have an old classmate who ended up at a startup with one of those, and apparently the only use anyone at the startup ever put them to was making private phone calls/private work meetings, since the open plan office made it impossible to hear yourself think half the time.

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    13. Kjenkers*

      I worked in a tech start up and we had nap rooms with yoga mats, chairs that unrolled into cots and weighed blankets. We worked 9-6 with an hour lunch, so people actually had to fight to be first in the nap rooms because there were only 2!

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    14. turketron*

      Not google but another tech company, past the startup point but I was there both pre- and post- IPO and took plenty of naps on my lunch break and no one cared. We didn’t have nap pods but plenty of couches/”soft spaces” in the office that were quite comfortable!

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  3. Not That Kind of Doctor*

    At my office catching a short nap would be fine as long as it is over the 1 hour we are closed to customers at lunch. Usually people will go to their vehicle, but it is not unheard of to find a quiet room with a door and set an alarm. I think it is more about appearances. Napping at your desk, probably frowned upon even in that lunchtime hour; but discretely tucking away into a spot – no worries as long as you are back up and running when customers return.

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    1. LunaLena*

      Yes, discretion is definitely the key here. I used to know a person whose primary job was as an evening server in a very high-end restaurant in LA, and she would go to her car regularly during her breaks and lunch breaks to take a nap. She would make sure to park in a far corner of the parking lot and lie down in the back seat. No one ever complained or noticed.

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      1. HideInTheBushes*

        Totally agree.
        I had a coworker who would regularly take naps over his lunch… except he did it on one of the comfier chairs in the open lunch area that was also used as an occasional casual meeting space… so anyone trying to microwave their lunch or grab a coffee or look for a place to hang out and brainstorm with a couple of coworkers just got to feel really, really awkward about existing in the space as he dozed away.

        It didn’t help that he was a low performer as well – and I think that’s also a factor. Someone generally competent who does their job and dips to their car for lunch for a nap? No problem. But Bob from accounting who takes 2 weeks longer than anyone else to process expense reports taking a nap during the day? People are likely to be more judgemental about it.

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    2. Nozenfordaddy*

      I often nap in my car during my lunch hour. If anyone has ever noticed they haven’t mentioned it.

      Now the time I laid down under my desk someone said something…

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      1. General von Klinkerhoffen*

        Yeah, I had a lying-down nap under my desk exactly once, and even though I was clocked off people gave me Odd Looks later that day.

        I rarely nap within my working day nowadays, but I have certainly had days where I’ve finished early and gone to bed.

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    4. goddessoftransitory*

      It’s the visibility, for sure. Taking a nap on your lunch hour in your car or office with the door closed is very different from being sprawled across the reception desk snoring away.

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  4. Box of Rain*

    It always makes me laugh that our glass-doored “quiet room”–which has a couch in it and a few coworkers used to use for mid-day 30-ish minute naps before 60+ people were moved to the floor–is situated adjacent to the elevators.

    Whoever decided that was either an idiot or didn’t want anyone actually using it.

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  5. Professional Cat Lady*

    In our totally open office, we just announce that we’re putting our head down for 10 minutes or so, and it’s the napper’s responsibility to manage the noise for themselves. We also have a couch if you really need it.
    As you might figure, we have a VERY casual office culture…

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  6. Snooze Ya Looze*

    I always wonder about work sanctioned nap areas. Like, are y’all sleeping on the same drool and sweat sopped pillows as other people? Are you wearing your outside clothes into a bed? Are these areas sanitized regularly and freshened up with clean sheets and pillowcases?

    The thought of it keeps me awake.

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    3. spcepickle*

      Way before COVID my office has a safety area. We had a safety offer who had a bunch of tasks, but also kind of worked as an on-site nurse. You could see her for band aids or whatever. She also had a cot that if you needed a lay down you could. It was not a bed – no blankets and of course you were in your full “outside” clothes, maybe shoes off. It did have a pillow and I would assume the pillow case was never changed – which was gross. I was glad I never got sick enough to use it.

      Everywhere else I have been there is just a couch in an unused office or conference room where you could go lay down in your full clothing with no pillow and rest your eyes for 20 min or so.

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    4. Great Frogs of Literature*

      I worked at a coworking space that had a nap room for a while. The sheets were changed fairly regularly, but none of us staff would use it, because it wasn’t THAT frequent. (And in the early days, they had a loft bed, and those sheets were NEVER changed.) The CEO really wanted to get some of those nap pods, but I was always leery of those for the same reason. Even if the company changed them daily, if they got any meaningful amount of use, that is too many people for me!

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    5. General von Klinkerhoffen*

      I always get these thoughts when I see an on-call room on a hospital drama. Especially Greys, in which the on-call room is used less often for sleeping than, erm, extra curriculars.

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    6. Lou's Girl*

      We had a plush velvet pink sofa in the ladies’ room at an old job eons ago. I saw a couple people ‘resting’ on that sofa. In the ladies’ room. Then the cleaning crew caught 2 employees after hours having relations on that same sofa. (They were both married to others, but that is a whole other story). I’m with you, there is NO way I could ever rest or nap on a communal sofa. Especially one located with the toilets.

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    7. Mademoiselle Sugar Lump*

      At Google they were either pods or kind of a sofa with curtains. I’d take off my shoes but never gave it another thought.

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    8. BW*

      Just lay down in my back in my clothes. There was no pillow or anything. Just the couch cushion. I kept my feet off the cushion.

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      1. Snooze Ya Looze*

        Thank you, kind feet-off-the-cushion napper. But I really can’t imagine many other people taking that consideration.

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    9. allathian*

      My office used to have a resting room like that, and it was a sort of bench covered in synthetic leather with a pillow in the same material that you could wipe down with sanitizer if you wanted. The one time I used it I had a migraine attack and had to rest for a while in the dark before I was fit enough to go home. I honestly never gave hygiene a single thought, I just had to get horizontal before I fell over… The couch was wiped down by the cleaning crew once a day, regardless of whether anyone had used it or not, though.

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      1. Snooze Ya Looze*

        I guess being tired kinda wipes away fear. I guess I’m just blessed enough to have had terrible jobs that don’t allow for napping.

        And bless that cleaning crew. Bless all cleaning crews.

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  7. Angstrom*

    I have napped a few times over the years, but I always listed the time spent as PTO, just as I would for any personal time such as a long lunch run or a scheduled appointment. I don’t see how that hurts the company.

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  8. alferd g packer*

    Once, as a temporary accommodation for an anxiety disorder flareup, I was able to take a 30min power nap up to 4x/wk for about two months. The mind, it is a computer, and sometimes it Blue Screen of Deaths/kernel panics and needs a restart. I still do this on my lunch break periodically (wfh).

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    1. TPS Reporter*

      I like that analogy! I have similar issues where I hit a wall and just cannot function without a bit of a nap. This doesn’t affect my performance, I still attend meetings and put in the hours. I just have that kind of brain that needs more frequent restarts. I’m glad to be in a situation where I have flexibility in my position.

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      1. Power Napper*

        I wouldn’t say my brain is as binary as Working or Not (blue-screen), but there are frequently days where I estimate that a 15-20 minute power nap in the mid afternoon will more than make up for itself in increased productivity for the rest of the afternoon.

        Honestly the only reason I don’t nap longer than that is that I don’t want to interfere with my nighttime sleep.

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      2. Sam I Am*

        I took some surreptitious catnaps at work when pregnancy fatigue hit me *hard* in my first trimester (my boss didn’t know I was pregnant). I had a cubicle in the back corner of the office and I would put my head down on the desk for 15 minutes when I just could not stay awake any longer. It gave me enough of a boost to get through the rest of the day.

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  9. Zona the Great*

    This would be just fine in my municipal government job. My own office is glass-walled and visitors all pass my office so this wouldn’t work in my specific case but I have colleagues who can easily sneak in a 30 minute nap.

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    1. FricketyFrack*

      I also work in municipal government, and my coworker often goes out to her car on her lunch hour to read, and if she ends up napping, no one cares. I really thought about doing that today, but it’s definitely not warm enough without running my car. If they’re not paying me, it’s my time to do with it as I please.

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    1. snooze adjacent*

      I have a friend that WFH and naps ALL THE TIME. They claim it’s okay because they are salaried and get their work done. They also run a lot of errands, do housework, etc.

      I dunno, I definitely use WFH to get stuff done I couldn’t do if I was at the office, but I feel like this person is abusing the privilege. I know for a fact they aren’t working nights/weekends. They said the other day they slept for 3 hours! I would take a half day if I missed that much work.

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        1. snooze adjacent*

          They don’t have the kind of job where “being done” is really a thing. It’s just ongoing, there’s always work to be done, people just work at the pace they work at.

          I am one of the biggest proponents of WFH there is, I’ve done it for years. And I’m very down with people managing their own schedules. But I can’t help but thinking this is sliding into wage theft. This person would absolutely get more done every day if they didn’t spend half the day sleeping, shopping, or puttering around their house.

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          1. Tea Monk*

            I guess they might have but is it any of our business? Companies do actual wage theft without any punishment all the time. If your friend gets in trouble for time theft, that’s their own issue. It just feels like the risk they run.

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            1. snooze adjacent*

              I mean I’m not going to rat on them or anything. I feel like it’s bordering on unethical behavior — I wouldn’t advise someone I was mentoring to do the same –but it’s not my problem to solve, for sure.

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          2. Zona the Great*

            Many of us can do more. But many of us should not just because we can. When will it end? The company is willing to pay $X for Job Y. If Job Y is getting done as they intended it, there is no such wage theft. This antiquated thinking is often how our oppressors keep us down.

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          3. AlsoADHD*

            I wonder if they’re just already getting more than everyone else done? My last boss used to make me stop taking on projects at a certain point each quarter so the discrepancy wasn’t so huge in the team (I could do 1.5x the next best employee but not 3x).

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      2. Also-ADHD*

        Some of this also depends on what they do and where their value lies. My husband’s job is like this in terms of having enough downtime for that, but a big part of it is he’s a highly technical SME and they want him available when they need him to do SME stuff. Sometimes he has more ongoing projects and gets busy (ebbs and flows) but a lot of times, he’s done with his work in an hour or two unless he’s suddenly needed. (He’s available, and even when napping, he could wake if someone was trying to reach him.)

        He could make more money at a go-go-go job, but that’s a big part of why he chose this job, to chill, write music, take naps, etc. after years of jobs with crunch seasons and such. So, they get a multi-faceted technical SME for slightly below-market rate, wfh with flexibility and good benefits, and he gets a relaxing day job.

        I think a lot of companies are plenty happy with those kinds of trade-offs. Someone who is valuable doing what they’re doing isn’t taking advantage by not doing more, as long as they’re not involved in deception of some kind.

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        1. I Have RBF*

          So, they get a multi-faceted technical SME for slightly below-market rate, wfh with flexibility and good benefits, and he gets a relaxing day job.

          This is where I am. My current workplace has me as much “engaged to wait” an an SME as a person with lots of projects. I am making below market, but I am 100% remote. Yes, when the fecal matter impacts the rotating device I can have a couple intense days, but overall it is nice and mellow, which I desperately need due to other stuff going on in my life.

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      3. Elizabeth West*

        Blergh. I couldn’t work if I took a nap THAT long. I’d get too groggy. I’d also be wide awake at bedtime and that would piss me off. 45 minutes, tops.

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      4. Beth*

        It’s so hard to tell from the outside if someone is ‘abusing the privilege’ of their work setup.
        I’ve worked at startups where we got a lot of flexibility with hours as a balance to the fact that we were all working for below market rate. Some roles are set up so if you’re getting your work done (which might not mean “getting the to do list to zero” as much as “matching the productivity of other team members” or “meeting external deadlines”), no one cares when or how many hours you work. And plenty of us end up working into the weekends and evenings without it being super visible–I know having slack and email on my phone ends up meaning that I send a lot of work messages while “off”.

        I wouldn’t bother trying to judge your friend’s professional ethics unless you’re working with them.

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      5. I Have RBF*

        I work remotely, and I take naps. But I make sure that I am available and working for approximately eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. Nominally my schedule is 9am to 5 pm. If I take an hour lunch nap, my day goes until 6 pm. Some days I have maintenance to do in the evening. I grab a nap beforehand so I’m fresh and alert for it.

        What often happens is that when I nap, stuff I’ve been working on comes together, and the company gets the benefit of that. I have also been know to wake up in the middle of the night with a solution to a problem, and go do it right then.

        I do set timers on my naps, set myself “away” for lunch, and make sure that I am not going to miss meetings. Yes, it’s a perk, but one that makes me more effective in my job. How effective? My recent review got a 4 out of 5, where 5 is the top possible and requires walking on unfrozen water and a novel from your boss singing your praises. Most people get 3’s.

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    2. Thin Mints didn't make me thin*

      I find that a nap on my break makes me a lot more productive in the latter part of the day! Obviously it needs to be scheduled when I don’t have meetings, and sometimes I can’t manage it, but it’s a regular part of my workday and I think it’s a performance enhancer.

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      1. Slow Gin Lizz*

        Yeah, I had insomnia for over a decade and WFH the whole time except for three years in an office just before COVID hit. When I was WFH, I would get incredibly sleepy during the day and learned pretty quickly that trying to keep working while also trying to keep my head from hitting my keyboard was useless, so I would give into the sleepiness and take a quick nap. An hour later, I was back at work and totally fine. I was hourly at the time so it was fine if I wasn’t working, I just wouldn’t put in for that hour. (And once the insomnia finally dissipated, thanks to some excellent medication, I stopped having to take naps every day.)

        When I worked in the office it was pretty dreadful trying to stay awake but I would try to go out for walks every day, which helped nominally. What helped better was going to a park nearby and taking a quick snooze on a bench (public transit, so I didn’t have a car to nap in) but I only figured this out just as the weather started warming up in March of 2020.

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    3. schmoop*

      Abusing naps is likely a reason companies are pushing back so hard on WFH, including the federal government. Threads like these make me even happier about RTO.

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        1. Generic Name*

          Yep. I wrote the comment in the article about working in a clinical lab. That happened in 1998. Welllll before remote work as we currently know it.

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      2. toolegittoresign*

        Companies can’t know who is doing what when they WFH.
        The reasons companies are pushing back are:
        1. That feeling of a loss of control where, because they can’t keep tabs on their workers remotely, they think it must be hurting productivity. Sort of like an overly controlling spouse who assumes any time you leave the house you must be cheating. Who wants to stay in that situation?
        2. Companies who have done a solid job of tracking productivity before and after allowing WFH and are actually seeing a drop that signals RTO would be the best move.
        3. Companies who are locked into office space anyways and allowing WFH is costing them money in terms of unused space. So making the overhead issue their employees’ problem instead of finding a way to downsize or sublet the space.

        My company sold their office and we’re all 100% remote. We bill our hours and have project managers, so it’s obvious if people aren’t getting their work done. I love that I can take a nap or flex my hours so I can work when I’m feeling my most productive.

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  11. Samwise*

    You need a one-person office with a door that closes and blinds over any window in the door.

    And a small couch.

    Sometimes working in higher ed is not so bad.

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    1. Anon for this*

      Also in higher ed! My former building manager had a recliner in his windowless office. He would take a nap every day during lunch. He just put a sign on his door saying he was at lunch and would return at 1 p.m.

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    2. The Mean Dean*

      …or a yoga mat.
      I have recharged with a nap at noon-ish many times. From my POV, this makes me less likely to nod off during long afternoon webinars and meetings. It also makes me less likely to engage in sleep-deprived crankiness. And I can usually reboot the system for the rough PM meeting I’m leading and need to manage both procedurally as well as interpersonally.
      I could argue that having the privacy and latitude to nap is important to my ability to be effective in my work.

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      1. Seeking Second Childhood*

        When we had big cubicles in a seldom-crossed warren, I could stave off a migraine by getting under my typing desk– I had a box of foam sheets used to pack our product, and that would be a pillow.

        HOWEVER: When we left that area they tore up the rug and I will never lie down on a corporate carpet again after seeing how filthy the air was during that renovation!

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    3. Andy*

      HeY Yo! I have the necessary things, am in Higher Ed, and DEF nap when needed. I’m also one to encourage others to do the same.

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    4. Armchair analyst*

      I like to imagine my friends in higher ed stay up very late at night and maybe also get up very early so it all evens out

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    5. Joys of campus life!*

      Also in higher ed! I have several colleagues who keep pillows in their offices (as do I but more discreetly). Sometimes, the only way I’m getting through the day is to shut my eyes for 10-15 minutes. I have a private office and no one can see in, but honestly, I suspect my colleagues and boss wouldn’t care.

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  12. Beboots*

    I wonder if making a “nest” is more common that we think. Back when I was in high school, I worked part-time at a large grocery store. There were some areas of the back storage area which were difficult to get to, blocked in with pallets with some larger items that didn’t get sold much, I think. But at some point when I worked there, a supervisor decided to do a purge of some older things being stored, to free up some of the large shelves for pallets of other products and useful things. Well, what they found was a “nest” that some employee had made, on top of an empty pallet boxed in by other full ones on the bottom shelf. They’d dragged some sheets and pillows in from the housewares section, and there were empty snack wrappers there too. It looks like it had been there for months if not years. As I recall, they never figured out who had made it.

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    1. HSE Compliance*

      It’s more common than people think. The number of nests that I’ve found during safety walks or that have been reported to me following a near miss is a ridiculous, honestly, and usually they’re unsafe from location (remote, lots of crap that could fall on you, or – my personal favorite – inside a damn semi trailer that was docked to be loaded with pallets full of metal parts).

      I once found a nest that someone had had to have used a forklift to make, since it was two trim press dies (they were big, you could easily sit and stand inside) that were heavier than all heck stored outside, rearranged and re-tarped so that you could slip in and not even tell that the center was open. It was full of cigarette cartons and Mountain Dew bottles. I only found it because I noticed a bottle poking out from under the tarp when I was doing one of my walks, and picked up the bottle only to have a pack of cigarettes fall out at me.

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      1. Generic Name*

        I worked at a helicopter factory as an intern many years ago, and one of the factory floors made gears and stuff, and electroplating was part of the process. The enormous vats of hot acidic liquid with dissolved metals used for electroplating were situated above large open pits so if the vats failed, the hot liquid acid would fall into the pit rather than on the factory floor (and killing everyone there). I heard stories that more than a few workers were caught napping in “the pit”. Horrifying.

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  13. Rusty Shackelford*

    If I’m allowed to spend my unpaid lunch hour reading a book, running errands, or sitting in my car listening to a podcast, I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t be allowed to spend it taking a nap. With an alarm, obviously.

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    1. Elizabeth West*

      Wasn’t there a letter recently from someone who asked if it was okay to have sex during their lunch hour? Or am I so tired I just imagined it, lol?

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        1. amoeba*

          Hah, I mean, if you live close enough to your or your partners home or go to a hotel or something, I guess it could also work on an in-office day – you’d need to be quick though, not sure that’d be worth it!

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  14. Madame Señora*

    One time on a professional development day, I tried to sneak down to the staff room to take a quick nap on the couch. The vice principal was already sound asleep on it.

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  15. Butterfly Counter*

    Where I work, everyone is either on contract or on salary and are judged by whether or not the work gets done in a satisfactory way. We don’t punch clocks and our time is not managed outside of showing up where we absolutely need to be. I’m sure some people here close the doors to their offices and take a nap, but it’s rare. If you’re tired, go home and nap. If you have somewhere you have to be, go be there. There might be some of us that have long down-times between meetings who might take in a snooze, but the flexibility in our schedules generally means we don’t need to nap at work.

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  16. Box of Kittens*

    When I was a rotating bank teller, there were several branches I worked at where coworkers frequently used the break room couches for napping. We had to have staggered lunch break for coverage reasons, so most of the break rooms were only used by one person at a time anyway. There was one branch, however, where the break room was in the basement, but so was the employee bathroom, so it was not out of the ordinary to go down to use the bathroom around lunchtime and find someone sleeping down there. I did feel kinda weird the first time I found the branch manager down there, to be honest.

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  17. Miss Chanandler Bong*

    I’m chronically ill, and my bosses have generally been cool with me napping. Now I work from home, but before, they were fine as long as I wasn’t visible.

    At one office, we had cubicles with doors that we called “shower doors.” I’d close the door and nap during lunch under the desk George Costanza style.

    At another job, I’d go out to my car, crack the windows, and take a snooze during lunch. My boss could always tell; I’d come back in and he’d be like “good nap?” lol

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  18. Just Moi*

    A CEO I worked for long ago would occasionally stretch out under his desk for a mid-day nap. We had glass offices, so there was no privacy. He would lay flat out with his arms out to his side, feet sticking out from under his desk. For all the world it looked like he’d collapsed. The first couple of times we almost called an ambulance. We finally convinced him to nap in his car, weather permitting.

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      2. Elizabeth West*

        That reminds me of the horse that liked to sleep lying down and the owner had to put up a sign for passersby that said “He’s not dead, just lazy.”

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  19. Joyce to the World*

    In college I had a work study job at the university library and worked over the summer. They way I could get 8 hours/daw was if I had a split shift with several hours break. I also had no car and after a few weeks after summer started, moved several miles from campus. So, by the time I would have walked home, it would be time to turn around and walk several miles back to campus for the 2nd shift. I went down in the basement to nap where the really old books not in circulation were kept. There were really nice, huge bathrooms down there with a cot. I was told I could just nap down there between shifts. I could also turn the light off. I had a little alarm. It was heaven and I only got walked in on once all summer.

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  20. Apex Mountain*

    I worked at a startup with a nap room. It was totally normal to go in there and close your eyes for a bit.. It’s a great idea IMO

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  21. L*

    It needs to be pretty extreme circumstances for me to nap at work, but if I really have to (think insomnia so bad I got less than 2 hours’ sleep and am nauseous from exhaustion), I tell someone I’m not feeling well (because I’m not) and need to lay down in our wellness room, and then I do. I figure that’s what it’s there for. I always set an alarm on my phone for a reasonable amount of time and then assess whether I can go on with the day or take the rest of the day off sick. I do this very rarely, though, and certainly wouldn’t for normal sleepiness.

    I do spend some of my breaks lying (awake) on my office floor, because it helps my back. Crucially, we all have private offices with doors you can’t see through, so no one knows I’m doing this.

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    1. SMP*

      During Covid, I would lie on my office floor whenever I felt stressed. I was a new healthcare manager when the pandemic started so my stress levels were high. Lying on the floor really helped!

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  22. Yes And*

    Every theater that employs union actors is required by the union contract to have a cot for an actor to take a nap during downtime. I have never seen a theater that permits non-actors to use the cot, even when there are no actors on premises. It’s just one of those things we all shrug and accept.

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    2. Snooze Ya Looze*

      Yeah, those 10/12s that turn into 16/18s, and those late night shows followed by early student matinees are no joke!

      Reply ↓
  23. HailRobonia*

    I used to work in Taiwan where they had a “xiuxi” rest in the afternoon, similar to a Spanish siesta. It wouldn’t be unusual to look into an office and see everyone slumped over on their desks like there was a knockout gas leak or something.

    I was impressed (and envious) of my colleagues’ ability to so quickly fall asleep into a nap and conversely wake up in a blink… it’s so hard for me to nap and when I do, I sleep a bit to long and wake up groggy.

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      1. Arglebarglor*

        I KNOW! I have a friend who can do this. She literally can sit and lean up against a wall and be asleep in a few minutes, and always wakes up in 20 minutes raring to go. I have done all sorts of shift work and have never been able to nap at HOME let alone at work. I do meditate at work during my lunch hour though.

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      2. Raktajino*

        I know someone with narcolepsy who can take a quick 20 min nap and wake up totally ready to go. I can’t even fall asleep in 20 min, much less do a full cycle of anything. The downside of his nap abilities is of course that it’s disordered: the sleep desire part comes on quickly and he has limited control over the timing.

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    2. Anon for this one*

      I’m jealous too. I’m currently on meds that simultaneously make me drowsy and give me insomnia (super fun combo!) and being able to catch 30 minutes of sleep at lunchtime (I’m remote) would make such a difference. Instead I spend that time just resting – it helps but not as much as actual sleep. I’m using intermittent FMLA for appointments and longer periods of time away from work, but my manager let me know that 30 min is not worth charging.

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    3. Daisy-dog*

      So the key for me is that I’m not fully asleep – it’s just stage 1. When I’m in it, the sounds around me are a bit muffled – as if I were underwater – and I’m not entirely conscious of what’s going on, but am somewhat aware. It doesn’t feel like sleeping in that time, it’s just that I do feel refreshed afterwards (when it works). The key to being refreshed is to be relaxed enough in that stage 1 and to get up before you move into stage 2 (the “falling” stage – where sleep gets deeper). For me, this 20-25 minute nap probably works 30% of the time. It’s wonderful when it does work.

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  24. HiddenT*

    In several Asian countries (Japan, for example), a mid-day nap is a normal, even required, part of office culture, partly because they’re expected to work insanely long hours.

    At my previous job I worked for a very small company (owner, me, and one or two other people) and the owner was a horrible micromanager, but some days she wouldn’t come in to the office, so if it was slow (which it frequently was), I would nap (really just doze, I never fully slept) on the loveseat in her office. I think she knew, because she started leaving things on it (like a couple papers, nothing big) and usually I’d just move them and then replace them later, but one time I forgot to put them back and she questioned me about it.

    I normally wouldn’t do something like that in a professional setting, but she was a horrible boss, so it was more of an act of rebellion against her than because I desperately needed extra rest (I didn’t have to work overtime). I should’ve left that job much sooner than I did.

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  25. Strive to Excel*

    My boss unashamedly naps in his car during lunch. I’m not a napper, but I have no doubt that if I were I wouldn’t have any issues doing the same.

    My boss is pretty cool in general.

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  26. Frosty*

    The last few places I’ve worked specifically had a “quiet room” where napping was fine. These have been 24/7 workplaces though with many people working split shifts. I’ve never taken a nap at work but here as long as you’re not “on the clock” and you don’t miss your upcoming work, it’s totally fine.

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  27. TheNinthBear*

    I started working in a new department a few months ago and when I was getting the tour someone pointed out a comfy chair in the break room and said “That’s the napping chair!” I assumed they were joking about the comfort of the chair, but I quickly realized that no, they were being quite literal. Probably 3 or 4 times a week someone will announce that they’re taking their lunch break and will be napping in the chair. People bring their own blankets and everything. I don’t use it myself but I love the bluntness of it.

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  28. Mouse named Anon*

    I think it largely depends on the office and where/when you are napping. Some places (like mentioned above) are ok with napping and have dedicated spaces. Others don’t. If you go to your, some kind of private area on a break or lunch then fine. If you are falling asleep out in the open when you should be working…..no.

    One job I worked with, I had a co-worker that would constantly fall asleep at her desk. Sometimes even snoring. She got away with it mostly bc she was the only one at our company that had a very niche job. She had no underlying medical conditions she just fell asleep.

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  29. Noah*

    In a previous job, my office was adjacent to the organization’s library. There was a woman who’d worked there for decades and, each afternoon, she’d take a nap in an armchair in the back of the library near my office door. She snored and the naps were typically 2-3 hours. She was so brazen, it was honestly amazing.

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  30. Enn Pee*

    I started a new job about 15 years ago and, early on in my days there, I heard the sound of snoring. After a few days, I was asking some coworkers about it. “Oh, that’s Tim…he always takes an afternoon nap!”
    Tim was an elderly (72-year-old) software developer who would have lunch and then promptly have a multi-hour nap at his desk.
    I’d been wondering why the stuff he was assigned seemed to take an inordinately long amount of time…well, I wondered no longer after that.
    [Note: I worked with plenty of other software developers over the age of 65…this guy was the only one doing this…]

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  31. A Simple Narwhal*

    My office has a few “wellness rooms”. They’re primarily for pumping, but they’re also there to be used for a private quiet moment or prayer, and I’m sure they’ve been napped in before.

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  32. night cheese*

    I keep a yoga mat and a little throw pillow in my office for times when I need to nap during lunch. Plus one of the libraries on the campus where I work has incredibly comfy oversized chairs, and I have sometimes set an alarm and let myself drift off in one of them.

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  33. learnedthehardway*

    I nap when I need to now (benefits of being self-employed and working from home). If I’m really tired, I might grab a nap between meetings. That said, I might also be working on something at 2 AM. Work/life balance is more of a juggling act for me.

    When I was working in an office, I only napped when I was pregnant. At one job, I would put my head down on my desk for 15 min or so. Eventually, I started working from home one day per week – that made a huge difference for my energy level. At another job, there was a room for people who might not feel well – I would nap for 30 min at a time, when needed.

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    1. A Simple Narwhal*

      I feel that. When I was pregnant I was so exhausted I could barely make it from my bed to the couch. If I hadn’t been able to wfh I’m sure I would have spent a lot of time napping in the wellness room, or just head down on my desk (whether I wanted to or not!).

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      1. Linty*

        Oh yes. Both pregnancies I mastered the 12-minute floor nap: 15-minute break minus one minute for walking to/from the “break room” (an unused office), and two minutes for maneuvering my big belly to/from the ground.

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  34. A*

    I’ve worked in a company where I was warned that napping on company property, even in a car in the parking lot, was an instant firing offense—I was in software but it’s a manufacturing heavy company and it was explained to me as being spillover from that side. Basically in a factory if you need a nap go home, it’s not safe

    I’ve also worked at companies where you can nap at work theoretically. Once I napped in the meeting room that had a couch, because it was that time between Christmas and NY when NOBODY is in the office, and I had a baby at home so going home would be less restful. I had a really bad headache and just needed a nap desperately

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  35. Bible Naps*

    I worked for a family business and the family in question was very staunchly evangelical Christian. (If you went to their church on a Sunday, they’d take you out to lunch.) When my spouse was badly injured, the CEO/Grandfather called me into his office and I left with a gift of 3 Bibles. One for home, one for my car, and one for my desk, as he put it.

    So, when I needed to rest at my desk in the bustling center of the business, I’d just pull out my desk Bible, bow my head over it, and close my eyes.

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  36. CherryBlossom*

    This is so timely for me: I’m a temp with absolutely nothing to do*, and the urge to sneak away and nap in an empty closet is so strong! I’ll probably close my eyes for 5 minutes, if nothing else. I am fully on board with “As long as the work gets done”, but I’m aware a lot of people care about optics and silly things like that.

    *Yes, I’ve spoken to my manager, there truly is nothing for me to do right now, I’m just here to be on stand-by. Caveat because I know how the comments are sometimes!

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  37. Yay! I’m a llama again!*

    I’m mostly just really jealous – I can’t shut my brain down for a nap. I am a frustrated napper. Anytime I try, my brain takes the opportunity to list all the things I should be doing…

    That being said, I do occasionally have a lunchtime lie down, but I never manage to fall asleep, even with an alarm set in case it’s subconscious paranoia I’ll miss a meeting…

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  38. Kate*

    I would sometimes take a 15-20 nap after lunch in a quiet corner of the lunch room. I heard no complaints and I wasn’t late getting back to work.

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  39. Aggretsuko*

    Before my time, I was told that one of my coworkers used to have a nap setup under her desk, with blankie, pillow, and sheet pulled over the bottom of the desk. Apparently that was cool with management back then. I can’t imagine old job being fine with that now.

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  40. Leia Oregano*

    I’ve never actually *slept*, but I have absolutely put my head down with the intention of dozing for 15-30 minutes during a lunch break before, and I am sometimes found having “floor time” where I just lay on my office floor and decompress for 10 minutes. I have a private office with a glass door so you can see in, but with the angle my desk is at I’m usually at least half-hidden and people at my work are good about respecting a do not disturb sign unless its an emergency. I think if its a lunch break no one would judge — we’re sure as heck not paid for them — and other circumstances can be ok, too, just depends on the person and their supervisor and the situation. The office slacker taking a nap when they should be working on their backlog? Probably not cool. That one person who works 70 hours a week (of their own volition, we’re salaried exempt), finally crashing? Understandable, and I’ve literally made them leave an event to take a break before. We’re a pretty socially casual higher ed office, so some weird things fly here that might not elsewhere.

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  41. Rachel B*

    I worked at a manufacturing small-ish business (80 EE), and most of us worked 4×12-hr days. Quite a few of us would take 30 min naps in our cars over lunch, wish each other ‘good night!’ and ‘good morning’ before and after, etc. It definitely helped split up the day and get a boost of energy after working 6-12 already.

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  42. naptato*

    I would not have made it through the first and third trimesters of my pregnancy if I hadn’t been remote and napping halfway through the day. But I got my work done and worked until the day before I went to the hospital, so that’s the trade off, I guess.

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    1. Wolf*

      The pregnancy fatigue can be UNREAL sometimes. I also struggled a lot when I first came back to work after my leave, because I was waking up multiple times at night to either feed my three-month-old or pump. Despite the small advances we have made, the working world is not kind to pregnant women or new parents.

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    2. Sassafras*

      Right! I literally slept through an entire weekend visit from my niece. She was so incredibly gracious about it, especially for a teen. At the end of the visit she said – wow you were really tired!

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  43. Honeybadger*

    I used to have a very comfortable couch in my office. Given our hours, taking a nap during the work day wasn’t frowned on. I’d close my blinds and door and grab a quick snooze mid afternoon. The funny part was the number of my coworkers who would come in during my work day to ‘borrow’ the couch for the same reason. I was a very quiet person and used headphones for all calls so it was perfect for them. Over the years that I had that couch, I hosted a great many nappers while I worked.

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  44. Bast*

    Lunch break is your business. Whether you take a nap or go and turn cartwheels in the street is no one’s business.

    Outside of breaks, I think it depends on the circumstances and individual. We had a pregnant employee at Old Job who was nearing the end of her pregnancy and was perpetually exhausted. Additionally, it was summertime and extremely humid, which made it pretty difficult to stay awake whether you were pregnant or not. Pregnant Employee was having difficulty sleeping at night and ended up falling asleep at her desk one day. Everyone, including upper management, figured it was best to just let her sleep for a little bit. At my current job, I feel like as long as there were a legitimate issue and you communicated it, there wouldn’t be an issue and as long as you didn’t spend the whole day sleeping.

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  45. Off Plumb*

    I used to go out to my car for lunchtime naps sometimes. I parked in a garage a block away, so I wasn’t likely to be spotted (and the walk back helped wake me up.) There was a chaise longue in the women’s bathroom on my floor, right by the entrance, and I saw someone napping there occasionally. Seems like a horrible place to try to sleep, for any number of reasons.

    Work from home means better lunchtime naps, but also the potential for things to go really wrong. My sleep apnea has not always been well controlled, and I frequently work on my couch. The worst unplanned nap was when I was in a Teams meeting to rehearse an important presentation. Camera off, on mute, and my slide wasn’t until near the end. Shockingly, “I’ll just close my eyes and listen” turned out to be a bad idea. I woke up 20+ minutes later in the middle of the slide right before mine.

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  46. HonorBox*

    I’ve napped at work, but always made that my lunch hour for the day. In my mind, as long as I’m not napping on the clock, no one should give it a second thought, just as they shouldn’t care when I do almost anything else over my lunch hour. I think it gets a more murky if “lunch hour” is at 3:15 in the afternoon or it becomes a regular thing. But honestly as a boss, I’d much rather have someone take an occasional 30-45 minute nap at lunch than be so tired that they’re not processing things correctly.

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    1. I Have RBF*

      I regularly take my “lunch” after 2 pm. I live in California, and support a team on the East Coast. So my 2 pm is their 5 pm. They go home, I take lunch (nap). It makes sure I’m there for them, but I get my mental reset in the afternoon.

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    2. JustaTech*

      I’ve had several coworkers ask why it’s more acceptable for them to walk to the coffee shop for an afternoon pick-me-up (usually 15-20 minutes) than it is to take a 10-15 minute nap in one of our “phone rooms”.
      It’s all just optics.

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  47. Bitte Meddler*

    At one place I worked, there was a room with black-out shades, a couch, several different throw pillows and a couple of blankets. The room doubled as a nap room / pumping room. People who needed to pump would book the room for whenever they needed it. When it wasn’t booked for that, it was free game for anyone who wanted to close their eyes for 15-30 minutes.

    I napped in that room several times, especially since I had a one-hour commute each way. Up at 4:30 AM to make it to the office by 7:00 AM, then work until 6:00 PM when the traffic had died down, get home at 7:00 PM, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next day, clean litterboxes, take my makeup off, fall into bed, get up and do it all again.

    At other places, I either napped in my car or found out-of-the-way spots like unused conference rooms or empty cubicles.

    At one job, I had the only key to the IT spare parts storage room. I hid a small throw pillow from home in there and discovered that bubble wrap makes both an excellent mat and a warm blanket.

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  48. Jiffy #6*

    Oh my youth… I used to play on a company sport team. Would go out drinking with all my young colleagues. Would usually come in mildly tired. I was an assistant who was responsible for mailing out packages in a tiny windowless room that no one ever ventured into. I didn’t have an office, so let’s just say that I would occasionally grab 30 minutes behind one of the shelves in the back of the room. (kept the lights on though, just in case someone walked in and I needed to pretend that I was looking for a padded envelope.)

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  49. Destra N.*

    I once worked for a company that had a “nap room.” Every single person in that office knew it was a trap.

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  50. Lady Danbury*

    I’m an exec with my own office (and the expectation that I manage my own time). Therefore, I’ll sometimes throw a 30 min meeting in my calendar (for Teams purposes), close my hour and take a power nap at my desk.

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  51. Anon non*

    I went through about a year and a half of bad health issues, and overwhelming fatigue was one of them.

    There was a period that lasted a few months where every day, at some point in the day (sometimes literally as soon as I got in and checked my email, sometimes mid-morning, but usually over lunch), I was so fatigued I’d close the door, close the blinds, make a nest of my shawl and coat, and sleep on the (carpeted) floor. Ideally this would be 20-30 minutes, sometimes it ended up being an hour.

    I felt a ton of shame around that, and I had no idea how it would be seen at my institution but I sure FELT like I was a lazy slacker who was super weird for sleeping on the floor of her office. I still do feel some shame around it, but I also can look back and acknowledge that a one hour nap on the floor meant at least two more productive hours of work. No nap meant no productive hours.

    This thread has made me feel much better about doing what I had to do to get through the day.

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  52. ZZZZ*

    I’m a second-generation napper. My Mom has MS and used to nap in her car. When her boss found her napping one cold January day, the wonderful woman bought Mom a cot and set it up in a quiet corner because she was worried Mom might freeze to death.
    When I was diagnosed with cancer a few years back and going through rads my boss told me to do whatever I needed to do to take care of myself. Because I could take ten or twenty when required, I completed the 6-week course while missing only 2 days of work. Of course, let’s not talk about a world where missing work would have cost me my health insurance…

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  53. Jubjub Bird*

    My sister works at an org that manages space (satellite) telescopes. She told me that, since there always needs to be someone “at the wheel” of the telescopes, the building is staffed 24/7 and there’s beds to use. So the naps are probably being taken at very odd hours by people working odd hours.

    (This came up since we both suffer from migraines and we were discussing the logistics of “Should I take a nap at work when I’m nauseous/blind and can’t safely get home? Or try to leave as fast as possible while it’s still safe to do so?”)

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    1. Burnt Out Librarian*

      I get ocular migraines and I hate having to make the “can I get to work/back home safely” call. Sometimes they only impact a part of my vision and sometimes it’s television static all over. It’s really scary when it starts happening while I’m driving.

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      1. allathian*

        Yes, I had ocular migraines in my teens, 20s, and 30s. I still get the occasional flash now, but nothing like the times when between 50 and 90 percent of my field of view was obscured by static.

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  54. airport gemstone*

    I am just thinking of George Costanza’s custom nap desk. Working from home, I’ve definitely napped on a lunch break, in the office, I think it’s ok to at least put your head down and close your eyes for a few minutes.

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  55. Emma in the UK*

    I work from home approx half the week and in the office the other half (typically 2 or 3 days of each, variably).

    On days I work from home, I sometimes nap. I’m talking about 20-30 min naps as part of my lunch break (which is officially 45 minutes).

    I see no problem with this and would see no problem with people I manage doing the same or similar. I can’t find any reason to insist people specifically spend their lunch break being awake, especially if napping will help them concentrate better in the afternoon. I’d rather they nap than be tired and nodding off after lunch.

    I am however aware that mainstream views on napping at work (even from home, even at lunch) can be mixed and therefore I don’t advertise this fact. I strongly doubt I’d be in any trouble for it at my workplace but there’s a possibility some people would judge me for it and I see no reason to mention it, as it makes no difference to either my work(load) or my colleagues whether I find a walk (which I sometimes do instead) or a nap helps me better on any given day.

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  56. Lacey*

    I used to work at an office where there was no possibility of napping (too loud, nowhere comfy) but I almost always drove my car to a safe parking lot to eat my lunch. If I needed a nap I just set my alarm & got 40 minutes. Sometimes it made a huge difference.

    My boss’ son; however, would simply fall asleep at this desk. Open mouthed and snoring.

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  57. Jona*

    I work in Sweden where big companies have to provide a room that are ment for napping or sleeping in case employees get sick or ar tired. I use it probably once a month when I’m tired during my mandatory 30 minute break and it is great!

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  58. Lucy P*

    We’ve had a few people in our office over the years who fell asleep on a regular basis.

    We had an accountant who would fall asleep at her desk almost daily. She claimed it was because she was taking Chantix.

    There was a guy who went outside multiple times a day to take a nap in his truck.

    Neither of them didn’t last very long in their positions.

    Currently there is one guy in the office who purposefully turned his desk away from the open door. I often see him sitting still, with his head bent down, as if he were staring at his phone, but he’s not moving.

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  59. Orora*

    I have some chronic health conditions that cause nausea and fatigue. Sometimes 20 minutes of closed eyes is necessary to ‘reboot’ my system so I can continue working. I’m lucky enough to have a private office so I close the door, turn off the lights and lie on the floor. (I’ve covered the glass panel next to the door with a curtain so no one can see in. I’m in HR so I justify it by saying “Employees might need privacy for sensitive conversations”. So far it’s worked.) If I still feel crappy after 20 minutes I take PTO and go home to rest. But most of the time I’m OK after my nap.

    Back in the dark ages when I worked at a dot-com during the internet boom, we had a photography studio so we could photograph products. It was quiet and dark, so it became Nap Central for most of our 20-something employees who were working long hours. The photographer didn’t care as long as you didn’t get in his way.

    Reply ↓
    1. GERDQueen*

      I feel very lucky to have already been WFH when I developed chronic health issues that include the same issues. Being able to do this means taking far fewer days off and makes me so much more productive than I would be otherwise.

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  60. PurlsOfWisdom*

    When I was pregnant and in my first trimester I would go take a nap in my car during my lunch break every day. I was always back to my desk on time and it never impacted work.

    I would have fallen asleep at my desk without those naps.

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  61. Butt in Seat*

    When I had a toddler at home (who was never a good sleep-through-the-nighter until he hit his teens), I fell asleep in multiple team meetings. Sitting around in a big square table setup with my teammates, in a small warm room, usually right after lunch. I believe I remained upright, and I don’t believe I snored. Something like the way I fall asleep in an airplane seat, I believe.

    No one ever said anything to me, but I’m sure they noticed. I should maybe ask one of my colleagues who is still at the company if they did…

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  62. Little Miss Helpful*

    I ran an afternoon youth program. Often when kids came into my office not feeling well, what they really needed was a nap, so I had a folding mat and blanket. I used it myself more than once. I put it behind my desk though, bc it’s weird to see a grownup sleeping on the floor.

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  64. Name (Required)*

    In my 20s, the decade when my migraines were at their worst and my worksite had a mostly private and secure parking lot, I made a nap nest in the backseat of my car, which included suction-cup window blinds to limit light and visibility into my car, a giant fluffy blanket and a pile of pillows. I hated that job’s leadership so much, but I loved the long lunch breaks that were the perfect length for a restorative power nap when the weather was right.

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  65. Ann O'Nemity*

    Over a decade ago, my mentor requested that a lock be installed on his office door so he wasn’t interrupted during his daily Power Nap. This man was a giant in the field, well known and well respected. And he was completely, unabashedly, and refreshingly honest about the nap.

    I aspire to get to the point in my career where I can tell the CEO to their face that I need a daily nap and not have to face any consequences for it.

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  66. Colorado*

    There is nothing better than an hour nap in my car in the warm Colorado sun. No matter what time of year it is, it’s mostly sunny and the car is warm.

    Reply ↓
  67. Anon for this*

    Oof I work from home full time and once decided to take a 20-min nap around 3 pm cause I felt horrible and thought I had nothing else to do for the day. Somehow I slept for *2 hours*, through both my alarm and a few message notifications. Turns out I missed a delivery deadline by about 20 minutes and people were trying to get ahold of me. And that’s when I knew I was burned out.

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  68. Tea Monk*

    Usually Im too nervous to sleep at work even if Im at home because I feel that I might sleep through a call but once I had covid and my boss told me to go home and not see anybody … I don’t remember that week but I must have slept a lot

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  69. Alicent*

    I used to nap at work when I was working as a veterinarian at a university and ended up there at weird hours or pulling all nighters. I couldn’t leave some patients alone with students (we didn’t have night techs or even any qualified techs) so I would stay there all night to monitor. That is really the only job that would have found it acceptable.

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  70. a fever you can't sweat 0ut*

    when i was pregnant at my last job we had a wellness room that had a reclining chair. i’d eat at my desk and then nap in the first trimester because i was so sick and tired. no one batted an eye. we have a wellness room at my new job and i don’t think anyone else would be upset if someone used it for that.

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  71. EcoBee*

    I work night shift in a hospital, so this topic comes up pretty frequently. For some managers, it’s an absolute no- getting caught napping, even on your break, is a fireable offense. I have a very reasonable manager now, who is fine with a quick nap during 30 minute break. They just have to be in the break room or notify the shift lead about where they’ll be, just in case they would oversleep.

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  72. Burnt Out Librarian*

    Really wish we didn’t have policy that requires we keep our work windows unblocked because I would definitely block that sucker and nap/do yoga/meditate.

    I have taken naps during WFH when I’m feeling extra groggy, but I’m also the type where naps 9 times out of 10 will make me feel worse. There was a library I worked in as a wee baby librarian where we could nap on the couch in the break room, but honestly people would come and go so much a light sleeper like me never really got any use out of it. But it was nice to close your eyes for a while if you didn’t sleep well the night before.

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    1. goddessoftransitory*

      I have a whisper thin dividing line between “refreshed” and “zonked out living dead” when it comes to napping. The problem is it takes me a long time to relax enough to fall asleep, so I don’t want to waste it when I finally drift off, and I stay down longer than I should.

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  73. spcepickle*

    My last boss had a pillow and camping mat under his desk, everyday at lunch he would close his office door, and curl up under his desk for a 30 min power nap. About once a month he would sleep through his alarm and we would hear really loud snoring. We would only wake him up if he had a meeting.

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  74. FuzzFrogs*

    I’m a narcoleptic, so I at one point had midday naps prescribed to me by my doctor! I tried it a few times, but I had to nap in my car, in the tiny, very public lot by the front door (library). It wasn’t worth the risk of the public’s reaction. I knew that if a patron complained or harassed me about my naps, I could run into trouble. My org let me have the accommodation, but I knew they’d perceive any problems that came from it as my own problem, not theirs.

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  75. Reality.Bites*

    I tried to read the article, but it put me to sleep. ;)

    I used to have a terrible problem with daytime sleepiness – if I was only passively engaged, like at a meeting where I was primarily audience, I’d fall asleep. Also happened at movies or plays. We had regular town hall meetings where I literally had to bite my tongue. I also have sleep apnea, so if I fall asleep, everyone knows almost instantly!

    Napping wouldn’t have helped in my case. Retirement did!

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  76. boof*

    NGL once when I had a summer job helping file things at a law office and had really poorly controlled insomnia I would sometimes curl up in an empty office on my lunch break – felt weird and honestly not that refreshing so I don’t think I did it much. I don’t think anyone “caught” me but I’m not sure they would have cared a whole lot as long as I was discrete since it was hourly and that was my break time + I was sort of a family friend of the owners + I think they really liked having me there (if this sounds like nepo – I worked my butt off and I think they were really happy to have an eager beaver premed in basically an unskilled position so it worked out I had a cool summer job and a lot of fun with my fellow filers who taught me about rap and street tagging culture a bit XD – I was in chicago)
    Now that I’m a physician and have my own office – only when pregnant and REDIC fatigued have I put my head down at work – maybe a 20 min “power nap”. And finally, there are call rooms when we’re in the period of training where you have to be up/on service overnight etc; I actually think it’s really important not to drive if you’ve been on a 24 hr shift and instead take nap or a sleep in the call room first. Or get a ride. I’m pretty sure driving on 24hrs sleep deprivation is similar to driving at least mildly intoxicated.
    … you may ask, why is someone practicing medicine while essentially impaired from sleep deprivation? Great question! No great answers except the system just figures it’s more convenient to do that and still “Good enough” compared with other things. Here at least it’s getting better and it’s not routine but sometimes things happen, or you really want to pick up a shift and then can’t adjust your sleep habits quite right, etc etc. I definitely don’t think it’s good practice even if it’s possible to get through it and probably mostly do good enough.

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    1. Nightengale*

      I posted below about how I used to sleep in the on-call room post-call and this was looked at strangely even though we all were expected to sleep in those rooms at night on-call

      There is actual data about driving post-call being more impairing than small amounts of alcohol – done by Judith Owens on her peds residents
      https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/201473

      Sadly, my problem during residency was less lack of sleep overall and more having to start so early in the morning. They made all these work hour requirements but none of them addressed individual differences. The best rested I was in all residency were the months I worked nights only. . .

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  77. foureyedlibrarian*

    When I was young (between the ages of like 2-10), I could sleep with my eyes open. I wish I could still do that … I won’t lie, I have napped when I had my own office with a wooden door and blinds. But that was only for 10-15 minutes, on lunch, and I rarely did it

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  78. SunriseRN*

    This is a huge issue in nursing. As a night shift charge nurse I’d find nurses asleep everywhere….closets, patient beds, even a crib once. There are people who do not take care of their sleep needs and think it’ll be a quick nap but….no, they are snoring an hour later.

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  79. WestsideStory*

    I have a dear friend who had an intense job (hospice nurse). On her hour lunch she would go to the secured parking lot and nap in her car. It worked for her and she did not have people bothering her on her needed break.

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  80. Maxouillenet*

    It’s one of the few things I’m going to miss about sheltered workshops

    . I’m leaving soon because I’ve found a job outside sheltered workshops, so better paid and less infantilizing

    But I have to admit that since we have quite a few different disabilies, sleep is more accepted in sheltered workshops

    Of course I didn’t nap every week and those who did were lectured unless it was justified (narcolepsy for example)

    But I worked there for 5 years and I must have napped 3-4 times a year without being reproached

    . Of course, I didn’t nap when I was at the reception desk, but only when I was in my sector (inserting envelopes and franking large numbers / data entry) or as a back-up in sectors far from customers.

    ( sectors is names for departments in my sheltered workshop)

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  82. Feline Meteorologist*

    I went through a period of time where I suffered from chronic migraines, which affected my sleep and, well, a lot of things. The medication I took to get rid of them was amazing, but, alas, limited by my insurance. When I did take the medication, it would make me slightly sleepy, so I’d take it before lunch and then lay under my desk (dark and quiet) and close my eyes. I rarely ever fell fully asleep, but I did eventually get written up for sleeping at my desk, even though it was over lunch. At the same job, I had an elderly co-worker who would stop whatever he was doing at noon, turn his chair around, and take a nap. That was okay; just not when I did it. Whatever; I’m gone now haha

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  83. NobodyHasTimeForThis*

    I am so much more productive if I get even a 5 minute nap at lunch. My WFH days I am super charged in the afternoon because I have that ability.

    Worst offender – I used to work with a guy who would disappear for hours. We worked in a factory where all the equipment was on a raised floor (clean room). He would go in one of the service ports in the floor and curl up near one of the furnace vents where it was toasty. Other equipment engineers kept finding him around different pieces of equipment before they finally fired him.

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  84. Bruce*

    I work remotely full time and my boss works hybrid, we laugh together about how much we love to take a 20 or 30 minute nap during the work day sometimes. We both have a lot of late night phone meetings so overall we are putting the hours in, being able to nap makes the late night calls doable…

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  85. Esprit de l'escalier*

    I am so envious of people who can nap anywhere or fall sleep on a plane. My brain won’t go into sleep mode unless I’m comfortably horizontal and set up as closely as possible to how I’d be in my bed at home. I can’t fathom how someone could sleep in their car or at their desk. I wish they could share their superhero sleep ability with me! (But also, this topic is making me feel kinda groggy….)

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  86. Coffee please*

    I’ve taken a few naps in our lactation room while pregnant. I called them “emergency naps” because I literally felt like if I didn’t, I’d die I haven’t tried this not pregnant though. I mentioned it to my boss and she doesn’t care (I am salaried).

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  87. Nefret Emerson*

    Ha, I actually get paid to sleep at work–it’s an expected part of my job. I’m a postpartum doula who mostly works overnights, so during the first part of the night I complete various tasks like laundry, dishes, cooking, and then in the last half of the night I can sleep while the baby is sleeping. I’ve slept on guest beds, couches, or even the floor. I do bring my own blanket to lay over my clients’ pillows to avoid getting them dirty. You could say it was part of my professional development to learn to doze, fall asleep quickly, and wake up and be alert at a moment’s notice.

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  88. Someone Else's Boss*

    I think it very clearly depends on the circumstances. Even when my role was in person, I had several colleagues who would nap in their closed offices during break times and it was a non-issue. I had one coworker who wanted to do the same under her cubicle desk, and the optics were much different. We work from home now, and I don’t even really dwell on what my team is doing when they’re not working.

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  89. Lady Blerd*

    I wish I had seen this question earlier because one of my juniors takes naps at her cubicle desk during lunchtime, today was no exception. Our section is somewhat isolated and closed during lunch but one side is open to a corridor, but unless a passerby is particularly tall, she cannot be seen. Lucky for her, we don’t care, but I can imagine some higher up complaining that it doesn’t look professional and I’d be told not to allow that anymore.

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  90. CarNapper*

    14 years ago, while very pregnant with a toddler at home, I would keep a pillow and blanket in my car. At lunch, I’d go to the underground parking garage, move my car to an empty corner, and take a 30-minute nap. It was the only way I was able to function. (and yes, my boss knew and didn’t care as long as I didn’t nap beyond the unpaid lunch hour)

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  91. anonymousse*

    I’m reading this having literally just gotten up from a nap (WFH) because my chronic fatigue flared and I couldn’t function. Now I’m back to work for a few more hours. I’m undiagnosed as yet but plan to ask for this kind of break as an accommodation once I am diagnosed.

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  92. Sleepy*

    At my job we have a “quiet room” for staff that is basically a closet with a chair in it. I’ve taken one or two 15-minute naps in there.

    Last summer I was going through some rough stuff and was prescribed Ativan to take as-needed. The first time I took it I was at work because I was on the verge of a panic attack. I went in the quiet room to just calm down and ended up sleeping for 45 minutes. Thankfully, no one noticed that I wasn’t at my desk. I haven’t had to take Ativan since…

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  93. Lizzay*

    In the ancient past when I was an intern, I was reading some info in my cubicle and propped my head up on my left hand, so it looked like I was diligently reading from the cube entrance. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t sleep well the night before and the reading was deadly dull, so I drifted off a bit. Woke to the big boss kind of aheming behind me & making some comment about Sleeping Beauty. I was mortified! But I guess they wrote it off as college-age stuff b/c they offered me a full-time position the next summer!

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  94. Blue Pen*

    I mean, if your company is actively providing you with the space to take a nap (e.g., a nap pod) or it’s one of those “campus companies” where you’re at the office more often than not, then I guess it’s OK..?

    But generally speaking, no, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Even if it were permitted, I’d feel really weird about it. I also usually don’t feel so refreshed after a nap and would probably feel groggier than ever afterward.

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  95. Sara*

    I worked at a science museum for a few years right after university. One of my jobs involved the camp-ins (where 100-400 kids would sleep over for the night) – we got a 2 hour “sleep” break overnight (paid) and would take turns napping in the staff room (most folks brought at least their own blanket). Not at all ideal but the overtime pay was very excellent.

    But then also at that job, I was involved in firing at least 2 student workers (one paid, one volunteer) who napped in the customer’s lactating room. We had a space with one-way glass that was next to a gated off area for preschoolers, so that parents could feed a baby in there while supervising their older kid. That exhibit was usually deserted in the later afternoon, but that doesn’t mean staff can nap in there instead of doing their assigned tasks…

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  96. JMC*

    I used to have so much trouble staying wake at work, like 25 years ago. Then I got diagnosed with sleep apnea, made all the difference. I still fight fatigue due to a lot of stuff these days but generally I can stay awake.

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  97. PDB*

    I used to be a production sound mixer and I was notorious for being able to fall asleep any time, any place. I regularly napped under the console. It may be genetic. Both my father and grandfather were office nappers.

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  98. Throwaway Account*

    I’ve had moments where I was desperate for a nap and could take one on a break if I wanted (in my car or head on desk), but as soon as I gave myself permission to nap, the need went away. Back it came, 20 minutes later when the option was no longer available!

    Maybe I could nap in a google nap pod?

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  99. froggy*

    Add me to the list of people who WFH and will take a nap on their lunch break, when needed. Often, it is the difference between me taking a full sick day and working through whatever is making me mildly miserable.

    I always think I will never fall asleep, but the deep breathing and disconnecting works just as well (and then I always end up falling asleep). Seriously, those 45 minutes of downtime make me have the energy for the 8 hours I’m working.

    (Way back in the day, I was working in a call center where lunch would be right before my circadian rhythms would take effect and the call volume would slow down. I would definitely start nodding off in the cubicle farm, but no one cared. I never missed answering a call. It was just 20-30 minutes of not being able to keep my eyes open.)

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    1. froggy*

      Oooh, I forgot to mention when I was a 16 yo and working fast food. For whatever reason, I pulled an all nighter, then went to the biggest city nearby (~3 hr drive) and stopped at the fast food joint on the way home to check my schedule for the coming week. Someone was complaining of being sick and really needed to take the rest of the night off.

      After much arguing that I could not do it because of no sleep, I finally gave in and agreed. Fast forward to two hours later where I finally wake up because I was working while I was sleep walking and pouring boiling water on your foot instead of a bowl wakes you up pretty fast.

      When I told management they brushed it off and had me finish the shift.

      So, yeah. 100% team nap when needed.

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  100. Lab Snep*

    Napping (or the fact that it is explicitly not allowed) is in our code of conduct.

    That being said, if someone was napping or dozing off I would hope management would be “Hey, is something up?” Before doing the nuclear option.

    I kept falling asleep at one job (nobody knew, I would doze off and jerk awake) and it ended up getting me a workplace accommodation.

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  101. Pool Noodle Barnacle Pen0s*

    At my last job, I used to nap in my car on my lunch break regularly. It’s unpaid time and I have to hang around, so yeah, it’s OK. If any management had a problem with me doing this, they were smart enough not to say anything to me about it.

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  102. Nightengale*

    I used to nap post-call as a resident and it really used to bother people

    which was really funny because of course we were all expected to sleep ON CALL if we could. There were rooms provided for this. So I would do my overnight, maybe get a little sleep, maybe not, wake up way too early for my brain and do my morning hand-off duties until around noon.

    At which point most people just went home and I often did myself. But sometimes I felt I was too tired to safely walk to my car, let alone drive it. I’m disabled and driving was never my strong suit (I’ve since quit moved to a city so I could stop driving completely.) So I would take a nap. I was completely off shift (it would have been illegal for me to do any patient care at that point) and yet it really seemed to to bother people that I was sleeping during the day, in the exact same room that we were all expected to use to sleep at night.

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  103. Mouse*

    I fell asleep at my desk at work once! I was going to school for my master’s in the evenings, it was the middle of finals week, and I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep. I woke up because our CFO walked around the corner of my cube calling my name! He saw me clearly jolting awake and said “never mind, go back to sleep, you clearly need it!”

    That was a particularly supportive workplace and I had built a fairly strong reputation, but I certainly wouldn’t assume I’d get away with it anywhere else.

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    1. allathian*

      The one time my manager found me asleep at my desk I had to disclose my pregnancy much earlier than I’d planned…

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  104. Yup*

    My dad used to have a sofa in his office and would nap every lunch hour. He was up at 5 to go running, then beat traffic and arrive at work early–usually before 7. The nap helped him refresh and get on with the day till 5. Honestly, some people need more sleep to function, especially when they’re not build to be up early. It only hurts people who choose to see naps as unprofessional instead of like a coffee or a cigarette break or a walk around the block some people need.

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  106. Greg*

    Years ago I worked for a Fortune 500 company that had its own cafeteria. There was a guy (no idea who he was or which department he worked in) who would routinely set up shot in a back corner and fall asleep sitting up. Even worse, he would tilt his head back and snore loudly. I always wondered if his boss (or boss’ boss) ever came by and saw him

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  107. Tea*

    If you are consistently sleepy (like me!) please get your doctor to document things and ask your HR about workplace accommodations! I have a vitamin deficiency that is resistant to treatment and makes me incredibly sleepy. (According to my fitness tracker I’ve slept over 13 hours today!)

    My workplace is very serious about workplace accommodations for sick/disabled workers, so I have protected lunch nap time now, among other things. (They even offered to get me a mat so I can sleep on the floor behind my desk if I need to!) I never would have even thought to ask about this sort of thing– I thought I just needed to muscle through– but the HR person in charge of accommodations has been absolutely lovely and offers accommodations I didn’t even think to ask for.

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  108. MotherofaPickle*

    Worked in a prison for a few years. When I was pregnant, there was absolutely no way anyone or anything could have kept me from falling asleep. Multiple times per day, even when everyone was around.

    I regularly fell asleep during my lunch/dinner break. I knew where the camera was and could claim plausible deniability if ever called on it. But I could also file an ADA claim if ever called on it.

    I fell asleep on the toilet once or twice. Would have loved a dedicated Nap Spot, but state government isn’t usually amenable to those!

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    1. allathian*

      It didn’t happen at work, but when I was pregnant I fell asleep on the toilet more than once and I slept long enough for my legs to go to sleep on me.

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  109. Lady Sally*

    I’ve napped when it was absolutely necessary (migraines, pregnant issues, etc). Maybe 4 times in 16 years. I’m salaried and have to record my time, so just didn’t put time for that (ie worked later).

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  111. Anonychick*

    Obviously not the same as a “real” job, but…

    I used to (sort of; it’s complicated) work part-time at my dad’s law office. In 2019, I had surgery and was out for four weeks. When I came back, my only official limitation was that I had support pillows for my chair. But I still got tired easily. Could I have gone home at mid-day? Sure; everyone would’ve understood. But I found that a short sleep was enough to keep me going for a full day. So I got in the habit of spending my taking a nap…UNDER my dad’s desk.

    …Dad’s secretary might’ve screamed the first time she “found” me. (She’d thought his office was empty, and that someone had just closed the door by accident.)

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  112. AnonyEM*

    Work in emergency medicine. Sleeping on the job will absolutely get you fired. Napping during your 60 minute food break: everybody does. Employer doesn’t care.

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  113. Ganymede II*

    My office has nap pods, and I have actually used them!

    The first time was during my pregnancy, and I literally was falling asleep at my desk. My manager at the time was super understanding.

    I used it just last week, on a struggle day, and my manager was the one suggesting I go use it – she’d spotted me take for 5th coffee of the day.

    I don’t make a habit of it, but the pods are not just decorative in my office. They’re not busy all the time, but they do get used.

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  114. suffering spoonie*

    Honestly reading this article and the comments kind of makes me want to cry. I have fibromyalgia and some other chronic conditions so I am very often extremely tired at work through no fault of my own. The ability to nap at work would be such a game changer for me but my position is fully on site and in a laboratory so there is simply no way for me to get any rest. They used to let us get some privacy in the lactation room (the only room with comfortable furniture and a locking door in the building) if we were feeling overwhelmed but at some point they put a sign up that said “for nursing mothers ONLY” and started making people make Outlook reservations for it. When I’m having a bad fatigue or dizzy spell now I will go into one of the single-stall bathrooms and lay on the floor in the far corner away from the toilet for a bit out of desperation but its very cold and impossible to get comfortable because, well, its a bathroom floor. I genuinely have tears in my eyes as I’m writing this, it makes me so miserable.

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    1. suffering spoonie*

      Also, even if I’m on my unpaid 30 minute lunch break and put my head down on a table in our eating area for a few minutes I get looks and questions. There is really no tolerance for my type of invisible disability at my job.

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  115. Chas*

    I once, after several nights of poor sleep, went to go get a coffee from the departmental cafe ahead of an important late-afternoon meeting, only to find the cafe had already closed for the day. I was so tired I couldn’t bear the thought of going outside and walking across the road to a different coffee shop, so I just took off my shoes and laid down on one of the couches for half an hour instead. (And then my boss told me I didn’t need to be in the meeting anyway).

    Aside from during the pandemic (when I got into the habit of occasionally having a lunchtime nap since I’d been given sole use of my boss’ office) that’s the only time I’ve ever napped at work. Most of the time my chair being in the middle of a communal lab doesn’t make for easy nap times, so I end up napping in my reclining chair after dinner at home.

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