A Tokyo-based company is launching standing sleep pods so employees can slip away and have a quick standing nap. The idea’ snooze and you lose’ is flawed as, according to the National Sleep Foundation, a 40-minute nap improves productivity by 34%. Furniture supplier Itoki collaborated with Hokkaido woodworking company Koyoju Plywood Corporation to create the ‘nap box‘ – or the Kamin box, to enable workers to indulge in some much-needed shut-eye shared Lad Bible. Long working hours, tedious routines, and erratic sleep patterns have nudged the creators to devise a long-standing solution, pun intended. “In Japan, there are a lot of people who will lock themselves up in the bathroom for a while [to nap], which I don’t think is healthy,” Saeko Kawashima, communications director of furniture maker Itoki, told Bloomberg News.
“It’s better to sleep in a comfortable location.” The box that resembles a sleek water heater will help take some load off for white-collared employees who are part of Japan’s strict office culture. According to one 2016 government study reported by CNBC, in Japan, nearly one-quarter of companies require employees to work more than 80 hours of overtime each month and often without extra pay. Providing refuge to refuel with forty winks is the least they can do.
“I think a lot of Japanese people tend to work continuously with no breaks,” Kawashima said. “We are hoping that companies can use this as a more flexible approach to resting.” The sleeping pods look incredibly uncomfortable but may prove to be a station of solace for a very sleep-deprived employee. Adding a small chair could’ve made matters a lot more comfortable too.
