Imagine working for an employer who, aware that you’re probably not sleeping enough at night, allows you to down tools and nap as part of your regular work duties — and not just 40 winks at your desk, but a restorative snooze in a quiet room.

These are some of the measures being used by a growing number of companies in Japan to counter an epidemic of sleeplessness that costs its economy an estimated US$138 billion a year.

Tech startups have been quickest to address the “sleep debt” among irritable and unproductive employees.

Last year, Nextbeat, an IT service provider, went as far as setting up two “strategic sleeping rooms” — one for men, the other for women — at its headquarters in Tokyo. The aroma-infused rooms feature devices that block out background noise, allowing workers to stretch out on sofas for an undisturbed kip. Mobile phones, tablets and laptops are banned.

“Napping can do as much to improve someone’s efficiency as a balanced diet and exercise,” Emiko Sumikawa, a member of the Nextbeat board, told Kyodo news agency.

Nextbeat also asks employees to leave work by 9 p.m. and to refrain from doing excessive overtime, which has been blamed on a rising incidence of karoshi, or death from overwork.

One company even offers financial incentives to persuade its employees to shun overtime and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Crazy, a wedding planning company, awards employees who sleep at least six hours a night with points that can then be exchanged for food in the company cafeteria. Using an app to monitor their sleep, workers can accumulate points worth as much as 64,000 yen (US$588) a year.

Japanese workers have more reason than most to submit to the urge for a daytime snooze, whether at work or during long commutes.

A survey conducted using fitness trackers in 28 countries found that Japanese men and women sleep, on average, just 6 hours and 35 minutes a night — 45 minutes less than the international average — making them the most sleep deprived of all.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【自助餐厅】zìzhù cāntīng cafeteria A restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves

【罢工】bàgōng down tools Stop working suddenly, usually in an attempt to force improvement in one’s working conditions

考虑到你晚上可能睡眠不足，允许你放下工作去小憩，而且，不是在桌上趴一会儿，而是在一个安静的房间里好好睡一觉，养足精神。这样的老板你能想象吗？

这只是日本越来越多的公司为了对抗普遍的失眠症采取的一部分措施。据估计，员工失眠每年导致日本经济损失1380亿美元。

科技初创企业是最早采取措施来解决员工缺觉问题的。失眠导致员工急躁易怒、生产效率低下。

去年，IT服务供应商Nextbeat居然还在东京的总部设立了两个“战略卧室”，一个给女性，一个给男性。这个香气飘散的房间有隔绝背景噪声的设备，能让员工在沙发上不受打扰地睡上一觉。手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑都被禁止带入房间。

Nextbeat的董事会成员澄川惠美子告诉共同社说：“睡觉能够和均衡的饮食和锻炼一样提高工作效率。”

Nextbeat还请员工在晚上9点前下班，并且尽量不要加班太久。加班被视为“过劳死”高发的元凶。

一家公司甚至提供奖金来说服员工不要加班、早点睡觉。婚庆策划公司Crazy用积分奖励那些每晚至少睡六个小时的员工，这些积分可以用来换购公司食堂的食物。员工通过一个应用来监控自己的睡眠时间，一年攒下的积分价值可达6.4万日元（588美元）。

相比多数国家的员工，日本员工有更多理由去享受白天的小憩，无论是在工作期间还是在漫长的通勤路上。

在28个国家用健身追踪器开展的一项调查发现，日本男性和女性平均每晚睡眠时间只有6小时35分钟，比国际平均水平少45分钟，这意味着日本人是全世界最缺觉的人。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)