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Nap Rooms for University Students - Good Idea?


Theda Baratheon

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Just now, zelticgar said:

sorry. I thought that smiley face at the end of my post might have tipped you off that I was joking.  Honestly I'm fine letting people nap wherever and whenever they want. Not something that I've ever done or needed though.

I personally think people who need naps are simply not able to manage their time effectively.  I get it for some professions (medical, public safety, researchers,etc. ) but for regular undergrads or 9 to 5 professionals it just seems like overkill and a good indicator that people needing a nap are not effective at managing their time or personal wellness.  

or some people just have strange sleep schedules/ poor health. i don't think it's fair to just lump everyone who would benefit from a nap as not being able to manage their time. 

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On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 1:40 PM, Theda Baratheon said:

So, nap rooms for students just popped up on the news and I think it's a fantastic idea.

Here's two links to two separate Universities in the UK which have implemented nap rooms.

University of East Anglia

Teeside University

I think to students with poor mental health, or chronic fatigue, or even just very sleepy that particular day this is a great idea. But, rather predictably I instantly thought of all the ''lazy millennials'' rhetoric that would spring up from this and of course, when reading the comment section of articles I found quite a few of that same vein. I think this is unfair.

So, good idea? Bad idea? Encouraging laziness? Or encouraging healthy sleep amounts? What do you think?

I thought that was what a Dorm room was for.  :P .  I see no reason that this is problematic.

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10 minutes ago, MercurialCannibal said:

I am with zeltigar on this. If you cannot manage a 9-5 job without a nap you need to reassess some things. 

 

 

well, i've been doing 9-5 retail for years im used to it, and i wouldn't want to nap doing that job because then it'd mean being there longer hahaha. i don't know the ins and outs of every single job though, maybe some jobs would be performed better if the employees napped, i don't know. i just know when i was a student this would have helped me out

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1 minute ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I thought that was what a Dorm room was for.  :P .  I see no reason that this is problematic.

well my halls of residence (when i actually was there) was a 30 min walk from my lecture halls...and it was also not a great place to sleep. not sure how different universities are in the UK to colleges in the US 

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Taking a 10-20 minute nap in the afternoon has nothing to do with an inability to manage time, wellness, or sleep schedules.  Geezus.  A ten minute nap provides immediate cognitive benefits.  

3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I thought that was what a Dorm room was for.  :P .  I see no reason that this is problematic.

Of course, not everyone will have a dorm room. Surely you know this.  

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8 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

Typically a generation is considered to last 25 years; though naming generations always has overlaps, and pretty wooly start and end dates, and are generalised steretypes based on shared formative experiences. Equally, just because the US census specifies the "baby boomer" generation with specific dates, doesn't mean that those dates are written in stone. Equally, named generations seem to be a very Western thing.

Anyway, as generalisations, you've got (+/- 5 years at each end):

Born 1885-1905 - the "Lost" generation - used to describe those who's teen-tween years fought in WWI

Born 1905-1925 - the "Greatest" generation - used to describe those who fought in WWII

Born 1925-1945 - the "Silent" or "Luck" generation - lived through, but generally too young to fight in WWII

Born 1945-1965 - the "Baby Boomers" - the products in a definite spike in birth rates as soldiers returned home combined with the widespread onset of modern medicine

Born 1965-1985 - "Generation X" - who grew up watching the fall of national institutions and rise of super-corporations

Born 1995-2005* - "Millenials" - basically the first post-cold-war generation; and IIRC the first "generation" with greater numbers than the baby boomers in the Western World. Had previously been known as Generation Y by those with liited imaginations, or Generation XL by those with a cruel sense of humour

Born 2005*-current - I believe "Post-Millenials" is the current vogue term bu those with a lack of imagination; but that'll change over the next decade or so - none currently at Uni for the current topic.

 

* Actually, I believe the economic crash of 2008 is considered to be the end of the millenial generation - one of very few with a more specific start/end date

Interesting.  According to this my children are "Millenial" and "Post-Millenial" respectively.  It it normal to have siblings in different generations?

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8 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

 

Born 1995-2005* - "Millenials" - basically the first post-cold-war generation; and IIRC the first "generation" with greater numbers than the baby boomers in the Western World. Had previously been known as Generation Y by those with liited imaginations, or Generation XL by those with a cruel sense of humour

 

Not even close.  Millennial generation starts around 1982 with it going for roughly 20 years.  Various think tanks have the ending point anywhere from 1997 (way too early imo) to 2004.  This is the generation that came of age during the social media boom, were expected to start graduating high school at the millennium.  The generation most certainly did not start in 1995.  

 

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16 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Theda, Dr.P.,
 

The :P was to indicate I was merely teasing.  I think this is a great idea.  I had naps in many different places on my campus in Undergrad and in Law School.

i knew you were teasing lol i was just saying. 

19 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Taking a 10-20 minute nap in the afternoon has nothing to do with an inability to manage time, wellness, or sleep schedules.  Geezus.  A ten minute nap provides immediate cognitive benefits.  

 

yep.

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45 minutes ago, Theda Baratheon said:

or some people just have strange sleep schedules/ poor health. i don't think it's fair to just lump everyone who would benefit from a nap as not being able to manage their time. 

Yep.

Or, god forbid, you're working three jobs in addition to classes in order to cover your tuition.

The benefits of napping are pretty well understood at this point.  It has little to nothing to do with time management skills.

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I know it doesn't sound like a lot but during the worst mental health period of my life I was in full time study and also working 20 hours a week and even that was just absolutely exhausting to me. I can't imagine people who are working upwards of 20 hours whilst in full time study. 

I've currently been working on a Masters alongside two jobs for the past few months but i'm able to handle it MUCH better now because my sleep schedule is much healthier and my MA is part time. 

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and it's not so much if you NEED a nap, so much as performing much better if you DO. I can do a 9-5 without a nap, but who knows if a nap in the middle would make me perform much better in work? i guess it'd have to be a 9-6 job then with a nap in between but who knows how much better people might perform. 

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Also a campus isn't a workplace (for students) and being a student isn't quite like a job and today's typical campus and typical student is probably nowhere near wherever it is they live/sleep. You don't get paid to be there, you don't necessarily have anything to do all day (but also can't always leave whenever you like) and you don't have a designated spot to be (your desk/office/station/counter/whatever as you do in a workplace.) I don't think it maps all that well onto an imagined standard 9-5 job.

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10 hours ago, Swordfish said:

The benefits of napping are pretty well understood at this point.  It has little to nothing to do with time management skills.

Exactly. Napping is not really about getting more sleep or catching up on sleep you've missed out on, therefore it's not really related to your sleep schedule/time management. It's more to do with refreshing / restarting your brain.

The one time I did use naps effectively was while cramming for exams when I was studying part time, working full time. I'd take a couple of days leave from work and do 16-18 hours straight at my desk, revising. But as you know, you can't work for that long effectively without taking sensible breaks. 30-45 minute naps were very useful for allowing my brain to switch off and come back refreshed. 

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