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And in Spain people take siesta. And it makes sense, our body needs rest to digest food. That's why we get food coma. Every one not just children should do this
by vmfunction 3y ago
And in Spain people take siesta. And it makes sense, our body needs rest to digest food. That's why we get food coma. Every one not just children should do this.
- cladopa 3y agoChildren usually do not take siesta. Most adults that work can't take it too. As a kid, I had one hour and a half in total in two breaks. Children need to play and exercise. Without it children are hyperactive between 4 walls.
- Al-Khwarizmi 3y agoIn the south of Spain, and still a minority. I'm from the north and I know no one here who takes siesta.
- mcv 3y agoHas it always been limited to the south? Or is the practice dying out because business has become more international and people in other countries find it inconvenient for Spain to be offline for two hours in the middle of the day?
- Al-Khwarizmi 3y agoMy grandparents (born around the 30s) never described it as a common thing here in the north. I can't vouch for previous periods, but siesta mostly makes sense for outdoors jobs in hot climates (where it's actually a great idea), so I would assume it was never common in the north as the climate is much cooler. In the south, it's also becoming less common with the change from rural to urban living and from outdoors to office jobs.
- hibikir 3y agoYou might have a long lunch break, where people go home, eat and come back, making the end of the work day pretty late. But siesta is easy to understand as a southern thing when one notices summer temperatures, and imagines physical labor outside, or a world with no AC. Trying to get anything done at 1:30 PM in, say, Jaen sounds unpleasant. Santander, Oviedo or Coruña are not going to face the same problem.
- whatisyour 3y agoSpanish siesta's are still just 2-3 hours long. In traditional Indian cultures, people would often work between 6am and 11am and then from 5pm to 9pm, because middle of the day was too hot to do any kind of physical work. So, I'm definitely going for weather as the reason for the tradition and not any timezone shift. And that also means that office work and air conditioning should reduce this practice over time.
- adamnemecek 3y agoBarcelona definitely takes siesta.
- james-bcn 3y agoThey have a long lunch break, yes (like France). But that's not a siesta. As the other poster said, that's really a Southern Spain thing.
- aerhardt 3y agoIt's not a even Southern thing for most people working office jobs and many other common jobs.
- diggan 3y agoThe city is "sleepy" around that time, true, and many stores close around that time and open again later. But I only know a handful of people who actually take naps here in the afternoon. Sometimes yeah, but if you work in a typical office/startup, you can probably count the people who take a nap after lunch on one hand.
- aerhardt 3y agoMost people working office jobs or otherwise common jobs do not.
- brozaman 3y agoI'm from Castilla y León (mid west) and the only people I know doing this are people who have to work at unusual times that wake up at 3-5 in the morning. People with normal working hours don't take siesta.
- isodev 3y agoYes, this is the way. In every company I've worked, lunch break has been 1:30 long - between 12 and 13:30. It's also a "no meetings" timeslot.
- mscccc 3y ago> Postprandial somnolence, commonly known as “food coma”, is a normal state of drowsiness or lethargy following a meal. It occurs when you consume foods with a high glycaemic index (GI) - https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/your-medical-questions-answered-food-coma https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/your-medical-questions... "Food coma" is from carbs/sugar. :) Edit: to satisfy my friendly HN editors. :)
- haunter 3y agoArticle: Postprandial somnolence, commonly known as “food coma”, is a normal state of drowsiness You: "Food coma" is from carbs/sugar. It's not normal :)
- jajko 3y agoWhy altering meaning by selectively cutting away words? Quote makes perfect sense to me and what I know about nutrition and digestion (not an expert/pro but way above average human)
- andai 3y agoI ate nothing but steaks for a few days (with a bit of butter) and was surprised to find that I did not get tired after a meal, nor hungry again for much longer.
- throw0101d 3y ago> […] nor hungry again for much longer. See "satiety index": * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satiety_value https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satiety_value * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_satiety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_satiety * https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7498104/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7498104/
- LanceH 3y agoThis has been game changing (low carb, not steaks only) for those drowsy afternoons at work. More importantly, I go carb-free 24 hours before I drive any long distance. It makes it so much easier to drive safely for a long distance.
- lupire 3y agoIf you are getting food coma, you should balance your meals across the day. We aren't lions eating once every few days.
- afr0ck 3y agoWe also get two hours in Algeria and la siesta is very common (generally known with its french name "la sieste"). I always took a siesta and I still take it to this day. It helps immensely with productivity. Giving up to a little nap after lunch gives a very refreshing and energising restart for the rest of the day.
- jnsie 3y agoDo you mind me asking what time you start and finish work/school?
- afr0ck 3y ago8am to 5pm. There is a pause from 12pm to 2pm. Like many Mediterranean cultures, the people like to appreciate family/friends time and food and they always make sure to make those a priority. In other terms, not rich, but chill laid off people. Overwork culture have no place and society doesn't encourage that in general. In my opinion, for two reasons 1) it's not a competitive society as in China or India, as there is enough resources for everyone. 2) Hard work is not properly rewarded as in the USA/EU, as the country suffers from corruption and it has failed to develop a modern meritocratic economy, so far.
- josephg 3y agoI read years ago that having a decent breakfast almost completely removes the blood sugar drop that happens after lunch. It makes sense. Digesting lunch takes a lot of energy from the body. But if you’ve had a good breakfast, you’ll have plenty of energy available from breakfast to keep your brain active. And you can eat less for lunch, too.
- ses1984 3y agoYou should really beware of referring to these things as absolutes. Everyone is different and there are a wide range of physiologies out there. Personally, the bigger breakfast I have, the faster and more hungry I get around lunch. If I eat a big breakfast I’ll be ravenous by lunch. The only negative symptoms I experience after lunch happen if I eat a huge lunch.
- 63stack 3y agoHow much energy it takes to digest depends on the food and the amount, not whether it's lunch or not, no? If you get food coma because your body is lacking energy to digest lunch, you'll just get food coma after breakfast then, because you'll be lacking energy to digest that.
- jonathanlydall 3y agoIt’s possible to avoid the post lunch productivity lull by changing what you eat for lunch. I’ve found that avoiding carbs and sugary items in particular prevents me from feeling a significant performance drop.
- unmole 3y agoIn China even tech workers take a post lunch nap.
- rightbyte 3y agoI was a lab engineer at a uni once. One day I saw an exchange student with his head against the desk motionless. I rushed to him and shaked him on the shoulder becouse I thought he had fainted ...
- throw0101d 3y agoSpeaking of Spain, how much of this is (partly?) because of how messed up time is there: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain It's in the same time zone, CET/UTC+1, as Germany (which is east of 0˚) even though Spain is west of 0˚. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain#Criticism_of_the_use_of_Central_European_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain#Criticism_of_the... (See also France, which is mostly centred on 0˚, so probably 'should' be in UTC+0, but is in UTC+1—presumably to also be in sync with Germany.)
- thaumasiotes 3y ago> Speaking of Spain, how much of this is (partly?) because of how messed up time is there None of it, obviously. It's an adaptation to the weather. The weather doesn't change if you give different labels to different parts of the day.
- seszett 3y ago> presumably to also be in sync with Germany Yes, it was changed by Germany while they were occupying France during World War 2. Most people are happy with it now though, and during the recent talks about whether to keep summer time or not in Europe, it appeared the opinion in France was mostly to stay on summer time year-round, so UTC+2. Which means more darkness in the mornings during winter, but keeping long evenings in summer and improving a bit the short evenings of winter.
- legitster 3y agoThis is very much a geographically specific thing. At further latitudes I can assure you we wouldn't want to waste our previous daylight by sleeping then away!
- aerhardt 3y agoThis is a myth, the vast majority of working people in Spain do not take siesta on workdays. On weekends sure.