(KTVX) — Calling all nappers!
How would you like to turn your naps into a profession for 30 days? Eachnight.com is offering $1,500 to five people interested in participating in a study on the pros and cons of napping.
The “Nap Reviewers” must be able to nap undisturbed and be able to write reviews and follow all instructions for naptime.
Over the study’s 30-day duration, Nap Reviewers will be asked to test theories about the best nap duration for things like motivation, memory and productivity. They also must participate in a video call before and after their nap to answer questions about the nap experience and results.
“There is an abundance of research that proves the benefits of a good sleep, but sometimes even a full 8 hours leaves you feeling groggy and performing at an average level at best. With the added pressures of a worldwide pandemic and many people unable to fully wind down due to working from home, even a good night’s sleep seems out of reach,” said Jasmin Lee, of Eachnight.
People from all countries can apply but must be over 18 years old. The application closes on May 31. Visit eachnight.com to apply.
A recent study suggests that the urge to nap may be in your genes.
Call it what you will — a power nap, a siesta, or just an afternoon dropout. Researchers have learned that people who like to take naps share some genetic traits that may make them enjoy naps.
In the largest study of its kind, a team led by Harvard Investigators at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) collaborated with colleagues at the University of Murcia in Spain and several other institutions then published in Nature Communications.
The study says, “Naps are short daytime sleep episodes that are evolutionarily conserved across diverse diurnal species ranging from flies to polyphasic mammals. In human adults, daytime napping is highly prevalent in Mediterranean cultures and is also common in non-Mediterranean countries including the United States”
The study discovered dozens of gene regions that govern the tendency to take naps during the day.
“Napping is somewhat controversial,” Hassan Saeed Dashti, of the MGH Center for Genomic Medicine, said in a statement to the Harvard Gazette.
Dashti, co-lead author of the report with Iyas Daghlas, a medical student at Harvard Medical School (HMS), noted that some countries where daytime naps have long been part of the culture (such as Spain) now discourage the habit. Meanwhile, some companies in the United States now promote napping as a way to boost productivity.