If you work in an office job, perhaps this has happened to you. You didn’t sleep enough last night. You’ve spent all morning, but your to-do list is still long. You’re moving a little slower, full from lunch. Your computer screen becomes blurry. You look out the window to see the sun begin its afternoon descent, and your eyelids droop with it. You decide to let yourself snooze for just a few minutes…
Occasionally falling asleep at work is normal, according to a new survey from sleep wellness company Sleep Doctor, with 46% of respondents saying they nap during the workday at least a few times a year. Additionally, 33% reported doing so weekly: 9% once a week, 18% several times a week, and 6% daily.
Especially if you didn’t get enough sleep the night before, taking a 20- to 25-minute nap can help you recharge and get through the rest of the workday, says Sleep Doctor founder and clinical psychologist Michael Breus, Ph.D.. But don’t make it a habit.
“Although you may feel slightly sleepy between 1 and 3 p.m., because everyone does, it’s due to a post-lunch drop in body temperature, you shouldn’t need a nap,” Breus says Fortune. “If you sleep the way you should sleep at night, you shouldn’t need a nap.”
Sleeping at midday is a big no-no for people who suffer from insomnia, adds Breus: “If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, taking a nap, all that does is make it worse.”
Nearly 1,300 full-time U.S. employees completed the survey in March via Pollfish. Sleep Doctor did not provide additional details about the interviewees, such as shift times, work environment or socioeconomic status. While the survey is not a scientific study, it offers insight into the post-pandemic habits of the nation’s workforce, Breus says.
Half of in-person employees nap in the car
It’s not just remote and hybrid employees who get Zs during work hours. About 27% of in-person workers reported taking a nap in the office on a weekly basis, compared to 34% of remote workers and 45% of hybrid workers. In-person employees took naps at these locations:
- Car: 50%
- Desk: 33%
- Resting place designated by the company: 20%
- Back home: 14%
- Bath: 9%
Napping at work is a luxury, says Dr. Rafael Pelayo, clinical professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.
“There are a lot of health disparity issues related to sleep,” Pelayo says Fortune. “You can only take a nap at work if you have a place to nap and it is accepted by your employer. So many people don’t have a place to nap where they work.
Pelayo adds: “If you work on an assembly line and take the train to work, you don’t have the opportunity to take a nap anywhere. Or, if you are in a place where you don’t feel safe; someone who is napping is vulnerable to being robbed or attacked.
Men and younger employees are more likely to nap during the workday
More than half of male employees, 52%, told Sleep Doctor they nap at least a few times a year during work hours, compared to 38% of women. It is unclear whether the survey collected data on non-cisgender workers.
The majority of younger adult employees admitted to napping during the workday, a higher percentage than more experienced staff:
- 18-34: 54%
- 35–54: 46%
- 55+: 25%
Younger adults tend to be more sleep deprived because they have less control over their lives, Pelayo says Fortune. They may have children who interrupt their sleep, elderly parents to care for, longer commutes and greater needs for free time.
“As people age and have health problems, medical problems disrupt our ability to sleep, such as arthritis and chronic pain. But healthy older adults sleep really, really well,” Pelayo says. “They slept better than healthy young people. Healthy seniors, the reason they became healthy seniors is that they had good lifestyles.”
Nattakorn Maneerat—Getty Images
Remote workers take longer naps during the workday
“Smart naps” lasting 20 to 30 minutes can make you temporarily feel more alert and awake, says Alaina Tiani, Ph.D., clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.
“This increases the likelihood that your brain will stay in the lighter stages of sleep and that you will wake up refreshed,” Tiani says Fortune Via e-mail. “When we nap much longer, we may enter deeper sleep stages, which may be more difficult to wake up from. We also recommend taking a nap as early as possible before you want to go to sleep to reduce the impact on the quality of your night’s sleep.
According to Sleep Doctor, more than half of those who work nap for less than 30 minutes during the workday:
- Less than 15 minutes: 26%
- 15–29 minutes: 27%
- 30–59 minutes: 24%
- 1 hour: 12%
- 2 hours: 9%
- 3+ hours: 3%
On average, 34% of remote workers and 31% of hybrid workers nap for more than an hour, compared to 15% of in-person workers.
The fact that napping is less common in the Western world than in other cultures made the survey data stand out, according to Michael Grandner, Ph.D., director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tuscson.
“The fact that many people working from home were more likely to take advantage of the opportunity to nap was very surprising,” Grandner says Fortune Via e-mail. “This suggests that many workers would prefer to integrate napping into their lifestyle if they could.”
Why do employees nap at work?
Employees mostly cited some form of exhaustion as the reason for snoozing at work, while others were simply bored:
- Recharge energy: 62%
- Recover from poor sleep at night: 44%
- Managing long working hours: 32%
- Fatigue: 32%
- Boredom: 11%
- Avoid work: 6%
But why are they so sleep deprived? Paradoxically, the flip side of napping at work is that 77% of respondents say that stressors at work cause them to lose sleep at night. About 57% reported losing at least an hour of sleep on an average night. Many cited work-life balance as their top work-related stressor:
- Work-life balance: 56%
- Challenging projects: 39%
- Long hours: 39%
- Upcoming deadlines: 37%
- Struggling to get to work on time: 30%
- Problems with the boss: 22%
- Interpersonal conflict in the workplace: 20%
- Fear of being fired or fired: 19%
Employees losing sleep due to work stress only to crave rest during the workday isn’t the norm, but their situation isn’t uncommon either, Breus says Fortune: “They sort of mix up their days and nights.”
Hybrid workers were more likely to report work stressors affecting their sleep, 88%, compared to 73% of in-person workers and 71% of remote workers. Additionally, more upper-level employees, such as CEOs and senior executives, reported losing sleep due to work stress, 84%, compared to lower-level employees, 71%.
Napping at work can have consequences for your health and performance
Sleeping at your desk may seem irrelevant on a slower workday or when you think your boss won’t notice. But some employees have paid the price, Sleep Doctor data shows.
Among naps, 17% miss deadlines and 16% miss meetings at least once a month because they sleep on the job. About 27% of workers admit to falling asleep during a remote meeting in the past year, and 17% have done the same in person.
Although only 20% of workers suffered consequences, some were serious:
- Check with your supervisor more often: 62%
- The workload has changed: 56%
- Sit down with the director: 49%
- Suspended: 24%
- Fired: 17%
“Limiting sleep to an important nighttime window can help ensure you get an adequate amount of sleep at night and therefore not need a daytime nap, which could interfere with work or other responsibilities,” says Tiani.
Strategic napping during the day can be an effective tool for boosting energy and productivity, Grandner says, but falling asleep at work when you don’t mean to can indicate an underlying health problem.
“For people who are unable to maintain consciousness, I would recommend evaluating your nighttime sleep to see if you have an untreated sleep disorder such as sleep apnea, or if there are other steps you can take to achieve healthier sleep “says Gardner.
You should also see your doctor if you don’t usually nap but start having unexplained fatigue, says Pelayo: “A sudden change in your need for sleep would indicate the presence of a medical problem.”
For more information on napping during the workday: