Tired of sleeping on your desk? There is a better way.
Credit: Wavebreak Media
College is a time filled with new experiences (and lots of schoolwork), leaving little time for students to get a good night’s rest. University of Alabama researchers found that a stunning 60 percent of college students aren’t getting enough sleep.
Some schools are acknowledging their sleepy students in a novel way: by creating nap rooms on campus. As part of a pilot program, the University of Michigan made room for a so-called “napping station” inside its undergraduate library earlier this year. And Virginia’s James Madison University created a “Nap Nook” for students last year. Students visiting the Nap Nook can reserve a bean bag to nap on for up to 45 minutes at a time.
“We had 2,500-plus naps recorded at the center in its first year,” saidCaroline Cook, research director at JMU’s Sleep and Actigraphy Lab, in an interview with NBC News.
Even students at Harvard University have tried to get in on the action. Nearly 200 Harvard students signed a petition last year advocating for a designated nap area.
There’s also an advantage to nap rooms for all of the non-nappers out there: They no longer have to tiptoe past students sleeping on desks at the library.
Follow Lakshmi Gandhi on Twitter @LakshmiGandhi.
