'Snoozing' Mayor Goes On Defensive, But Many NYC Companies Encourage Midday Naps

NEW YORK CITY, NY – Office snoozes might put Mayor de Blasio on the defensive but, in more and more city offices, taking a midday nap is actually encouraged.

The mayor vehemently denied a report last week saying he catches up on zs on his office couch. His nemesis Gov. Andrew Cuomo chimed in to say he doesn’t nap, either, and the most City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will admit to is putting her head down when feeling unwell.

But far from being a source of shame, sleeping during the work day can be good for you, according to experts. And some New York City companies want their workers to rest.

“Naps can have potentially huge benefits,” Dr. Gary Zammit of the Sleep Disorders Institute in Midtown told Patch. “If you’re not too sleep deprived and you take a nap that’s say a half an hour... you can feel both mentally and physically rejuvenated.”

Research supports such claims. A study in Nature Neuroscience recently noted by the New York Times found 30-minute naps stop the deterioration in performance that happens in the course of the day.

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While napping might be shunned at City Hall and Albany, it's increasingly accepted in parts of the private sector.

The head of MetroNaps, which puts futuristic-looking pods in offices so that employees can snooze, told Patch that accepted workplace napping started with tech giants like Google in California and spread from there.

MetroNaps CEO Christopher Lindholst said his company has outfitted "hundreds" of offices on the East Coast since opening in 2002, including many in New York City. He didn't give specifics about his clients.

But he said while attitudes have changed dramatically since then, some biases remain.

“My father’s generation, it’s harder to convince this is something that is appropriate because it’s not how they were brought up to think their workday is like,” said Lindholst, 42.

That might well be a factor in de Blasio’s strong rejection of napping on the job.

“I would certainly defend his taking a nap,” Lindholst said. “I think he should do it every day. It would probably help him a lot.”

De Blasio's morning snoozes, however, concern even the experts.

“That is interesting if the report is he gets up, goes to the gym and then takes a nap in the morning hours,” Zammit said. “It may be – and it’s not appropriate for me to make statements without actually evaluating a patient – it may be that somebody who does that hasn’t gotten enough sleep the night before.”

Lead image by Mike Groll/Associated Press.