“Napping is an effective response to the contemporary epidemic of sleep debt.”
In the Jardin des Tuileries, in Paris, in May 2023. VALERIE DUBOIS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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Interview In "Insomniac France," Damien Léger, a sleep specialist, advocates the practice of a midday nap as a way to escape the 24/7 society.
Even at the height of World War II, Winston Churchill napped. After lunch, the British Prime Minister would retreat to one of the rooms in his military headquarters, undress, and make sure to get an hour or two of sleep. Should we do the same? In his book "La France insomniaque," recently published by Odile Jacob, Professor Damien Léger, head of the Sleep and Vigilance Center at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, warns about the sleep disturbances experienced by a growing number of French people. While everyone knows that the human biological rhythm requires eight hours of sleep per night to keep the machine running properly, 20 to 30% of city dwellers fail to get more than six hours of sleep—and start their day with their heads in a fog and their nerves on edge. To compensate for these missed hours of rest, the doctor recommends re-evaluating the practice of napping. And provides the keys to a successful midday nap.
You open your book with a childhood memory: observing these families, peacefully asleep in fields, in the summer, after a good meal. A rare scene today. Why don't we see people sleeping in public anymore?Damien Léger : In the past, individuals were less constrained by the image they projected of themselves, which could offer these almost pastoral scenes. Today, it is almost impossible to let go...
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