My mothers and sisters sleep too (Spain). But I remember that when I was I child, at my grandfather's house (my granny died before I was born), it was the men that slept because the women were busy in the kitchen doing the washing up. Here I'm talking about big family lunches. Thus, men could sleep because of the macho culture. Fortunately, this changed in one generation, at least in my family. We all clean everything up together and go to have coffe afterwards.

wow, how does anyone get anything done in that country! Compare it to the asian countries that work 16 hour days....

>how does anyone get anything done in that country!

By not confusing actually doing work with being kept busy for 16 hours to please the "company" / "boss".

Plus, it's not like this happens everytime and for everyone. People in Greece work longer hours than most of Europeans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/16...

Napping is actually a big part of the culture. You'll see many people catching naps on trains, buses, and other public places, even while standing up.

Japan has its own word "inemuri" for the practice of sleeping on the job, which is sometimes even faked to make it look like they're working hard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inemuri

Recently this practice has become more accepted company policy. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/06/07/editorials/po...

>Japan has its own word "inemuri" for the practice of sleeping on the job, which is sometimes even faked to make it look like they're working hard.

Huh. Definitely not a part of American work culture - it's likely you'll wake up with a pink slip taped to your face.

I think that's actually more optimal. After lunch I'm usually brain dead for around one hour or so and I don't really get much done.

I could as well take a nap and then get back to work with renewed energy.

People work later in the (cooler) evening.

Given the right architecture (high ceiling, verandah, stone walls) a shift in work day like this can offset high temperatures without using huge amounts of electricity for air conditioning.

PS: Judging by the Chinese overseas students I meet I think 16 hour work days may become a memory in a generation or two.

Napping is quite common in China and Taiwan at the work place and at school. People are overworked though.

They don't. Spain and Greece are both bankrupt or nearly so.

This comment is very disrespectful. Spaniards work hard. That's not the problem. The problem is bad management of public affairs due to complex causes, being the most recent one a 40 year long dictatorship where the political class used the state for its own benefit. That no relationship whatsoever with naps or coffee, which is the subject we are discussing now.