This week, I ran across an article on a new “exercise” class that is being marketed at a gym, David Lloyd clubs, in the UK – Napercise. Yep, that’s right. This gym has actually begun to facilitate classes in napping. They have created a 45-minute class where people sleep on a single bed in a large exercise studio. The idea is being specifically marketed to exhausted parents. But before we simply laugh and toss this idea out the window as ridiculousness, let’s pause and consider the PURE GENIUS, as well as the underlying implications for the holistic health profession.
Waking Up the Foundation of Health
This company has tapped into an unmet of the majority of adults living in any city in the industrialized world: sleep/rest. They have also potentially brought the incredible importance of this foundation of health out of the darkness and into mainstream culture, as something to pay attention to – just like exercise. Critics may argue that people won’t purchase something like this, when they can just take a catnap at home, BUT if we apply this same logic to other aspects of health, everyone would be buying fresh foods and cooking their own meals and exercising at home using calisthenic workouts. The fact of the matter is that there are many factors which could potentially make this appealing for a lot of people – chaotic home environment ill-suited for even a 45-minute nap or a schedule that doesn’t allow for a mid-day journey home. Also, our brains have been conditioned to connect value to things we have to pay for; sad but true. Maybe paying for rest, could ensure an increase in its perceived value.
Group Napping Boosts Mental and Physical Wellbeing
From the gym’s website, here is the overview of the class located on the registration page:
The frantic nature of modern life means that few of us seem to get enough sleep, and if you’re a parent, a good night’s rest becomes even more of a luxury. So we’ve created a new group class – group napping classes for exhausted mums and dads to help boost their mental and physical wellbeing.
Our mid-afternoon studio sleep sessions is 45-minutes long and is designed to reinvigorate the mind, the body and even burn the odd calorie.
And the class is Full.
Node Smith, associate editor for NDNR, is a fifth year naturopathic medical student at NUNM, where he has been instrumental in maintaining a firm connection to the philosophy and heritage of naturopathic medicine amongst the next generation of docs. He helped found the first multi-generational experiential retreat, which brings elders, alumni, and students together for a weekend campout where naturopathic medicine and medical philosophy are experienced in nature. Three years ago he helped found the non-profit, Association for Naturopathic ReVitalization (ANR), for which he serves as the board chairman. ANR has a mission to inspire health practitioners to embody the naturopathic principles through experiential education. Node also has a firm belief that the next era of naturopathic medicine will see a resurgence of in-patient facilities which use fasting, earthing, hydrotherapy and homeopathy to bring people back from chronic diseases of modern living; he is involved in numerous conversations and projects to bring about this vision.