'How's that for a nation of sleepers on the job?'

Mark Rosekind, co-founder and president of Alertness Solutions in Cupertino, told the San Francisco Chronicle that people are "biologically programmed" to be sleepy twice a day, between 3 and 5 am and 3 and 5 pm. Sleeping less than 40 minutes is a sufficient power nap, he noted, and anything more is tantamount to taking NyQuil during the day - unless you can get in a full two hours for a complete deep sleep cycle without the boss batting an eye.

In China, the law has provided for an apres-lunch nap, and reductions in work time have increased productivity. HR Focus magazine noted that according to the Chinese government, there was a 30% increase in productivity since the effective implementation of the shorter, 40-hour working week, in 1996 (down from an average 48 beforehand).

So don't fear of learning bad lessons about productivity from the Chinese workplace. Just take the new terminal expansion at Beijing Capital Airport as a case in point.

According to The Independent:
# China has designed and built a new airport terminal double the size of Heathrow's Terminal Five in four years, which is less time than the Heathrow planning enquiry.
# China aims to build 97 regional airports in the next decade, of which 45 are scheduled for completion in five years. The UK has not built a new airport since City airport was commissioned in 1987.
# The UK frets over replacing nuclear power stations and there is dedicated opposition to a new coal-fired station. China completes a new power station every four days.

~ from Don't be lazy, snooze at work ~