It's time to put the tired Spanish siesta stereotype to bed
西班牙的午睡传统应该保留还是废除？

In the small town of Ador, near Valencia, the siesta is sacred. So sacred, in fact, that in 2015 its mayor enshrined its citizens’ right to the afternoon nap in law.

在巴伦西亚（Valencia）附近一个名叫阿多尔（Ador）的小镇上，午睡是一件非常神圣的事。在这里，午睡是如此神圣不可侵犯，以至于镇长在2015年以法律赋予小镇居民午休的权利。

Everything in the town closes between 2pm and 5pm, while all noise must be kept to a minimum. Parents are encouraged to keep their children indoors and ball games are strictly off the agenda while the town’s inhabitants get their forty winks.

到了下午2点至5点，这座小镇的一切都会关闭，而所有的噪音都必须保持在最低水平。政府鼓励市民让孩子留在室内，所有球类运动一律禁止，镇上的居民都可以在此时打个盹。

But while Ador is embracing the tradition of siesta , elsewhere in Spain it seems the days may be numbered for one of the country’s most enduring stereotypes. The siesta is now as alien to most Spaniards as it is to the foreigners who package it into their image of Spain.

虽然阿多尔小镇坚持拥抱午睡的传统，但在西班牙其他地方，传统午睡的日子似乎屈指可数。如今，多数西班牙人和外国人一样，对午睡都非常陌生。

Almost 60% of Spaniards never have a siesta, while just 18% will sometimes have a midday nap, according to a recent survey. In fact, the Spanish spend far more time working than many of their counterparts in Europe. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Spaniards rack up 1,691 hours at work each year while British workers do 1,674 annually and the Germans work just 1,371 hours a year.

最近的调查显示，约有60%的西班牙人从不午睡，只有18%的人有时会在中午打个盹。事实上，西班牙人的工作时间超过很多欧洲国家。根据经合组织（OECD）的数据，西班牙人每年工作时间超过1,691小时，英国人约1,674小时，德国仅为1,371小时。

So what has led a nation famous in part for its supposedly casual attitude to labour to become one of the hardest working in Europe?

究竟是什么让这样一个以悠闲著称的国家，成为工作最努力的欧洲国家？

A surprising import

来源探秘

Before tackling this question, it is perhaps worth pausing to consider that the siesta does not originally come from Spain at all - it is from Italy.

回答这个问题之前，有必要澄清一个问题：午睡并非源自西班牙，而是来自意大利。

“The word siesta comes from the Latin sexta,” explains Juan José Ortega, vice president of the Spanish Society of Sleep and a somnologist - an expert in sleep medicine.  “The Romans stopped to eat and rest at the sixth hour of the day. If we bear in mind that they divided periods of light into 12 hours, then the sixth hour corresponds in Spain to the period between 1pm (in winter) and 3pm (in summer).”

"'午睡'（siesta）这个词来自拉丁语'午时祷'（sexta）。"西班牙睡眠学会副主席、睡眠医学家朱安·琼斯·奥特佳（Juan José Ortega）解释道，"罗马人会在每天的第6个小时停止进食，放松休息。如果你知道他们把白天分成12小时，那就能知道第6个小时大概就是西班牙的下午1点（冬天）到3点（夏天）之间。"

From its Roman origins, the siesta became a cross cultural phenomenon, but it was Spain’s peculiar historical working hours that gave Spaniards, perhaps more so than most, the opportunity to fit the infamous nap into their day.

起源于罗马的午睡已经成为一种跨文化现象，但由于西班牙历史上特殊的工作时间，使得西班牙人比其他多数国家的居民都更有机会午睡。

Traditionally, the Spanish working day was split into two distinct parts: people would work from 9am until 2pm, stop for a two hour lunch break and return to work from 4pm until around 8pm. This disjointed day came about because in post Civil War Spain, many people worked two jobs to support their families, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. The two hour break allowed workers, especially those in rural areas, time to rest or travel after the first job ended.

以往，西班牙的工作日被分成两个独立的部分：人们会从早上9点一直工作到下午2点，然后有两个小时的午饭时间，下午4点再回来工作，一直到大约晚上8点。之所以采用这种割裂的日常安排，是因为在西班牙内战之后，很多人都从事两份工作来养家糊口，一份上午，一份下午。两个小时的午间休息就是为了让人们有时间休息，或者在第一份工作结束后前往第二份工作地点，这对于农村地区的人来说尤其重要。

Then between the early 1950s and early 1980s, Spain experienced unprecedented migration from rural areas to its cities, where the majority of its citizens now work. Here, few people have a siesta, but the long working day appears to have remained ingrained in the culture.

之后，在20世纪50年代初至80年代初之间，西班牙经历了空前的城市化进程，多数城市居民都工作。在城市里，很少有人午睡，但较长的工作日似乎已经在文化里根深蒂固。

The presentismo trap

超时工作

Spain’s evidently longer working hours do not equal more productivity. Instead, many Spanish businesses are afflicted by presentismo, or presenteeism.

西班牙人工作时间长，但并不代表生产力高。相反，很多西班牙企业都受到"超时工作"的折磨。

“Presentismo is spending hours more than you really need to at work in order to seem more serious and committed to your organisation,” said Marc Grau, a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and an expert in work-life balance. “It is particularly prevalent in Spain due to the old mentality in traditional companies of more hours equals more work, and long working hours because of the long lunch break in many companies.

"超时工作就是花在工作上的时间多于实际所需的时间，以此显示自己更重视工作，对组织更忠心。"哈佛大学肯尼迪政府学院研究员马克·格劳（Marc Grau）说，"这种情况在西班牙尤其流行，主要是因为传统企业的老套思维认为，工作时间越长，等于做的工作越多。很多公司也都认为，午饭休息时间长，所以工作时间也应该延长。"

“Presentismo may seem good in the short term but it is tremendously pervasive in the long term. It can affect motivation, job performance, work satisfaction, life satisfaction and it obviously has an effect on family life.”

"超时工作短期看似乎是好事，但时间一长反而会有害处。这会影响积极性、工作绩效、工作成就感、生活满意度，还会对家庭生活产生明显影响。"

While presentismo has been an issue in Spain for decades, it has become especially prevalent since the most recent global economic crisis hit the country. In the wake of recession, in 2013, Spain’s unemployment rose to 27%, while in the same year youth unemployment reached a record 56.1%.

虽然超时工作在西班牙已经存在了好几十年，但在最近的全球经济危机冲击西班牙之后，超时工作现象变得更为盛行。2013年，西班牙在经济衰退之下，失业率增至27%，同一年的年轻人失业率达到创纪录的56.1%。

The unemployment rate has dropped since then, but was 18.8% for the first quarter of 2017, still the second highest in the European Union after Greece. A deep-seated fear of losing their jobs has left many Spanish employees spending even more time at their desks.

虽然此后的失业率有所下降，但2017年第一季度还是高达18.8%，在欧盟国家中仅次于希腊。因为担心失去工作，很多西班牙员工待在办公桌前的时间进一步延长。

The fear of losing their jobs has also made Spanish workers far more sceptical of using flexible working policies, says Grau. The fear is perhaps stronger in Spain than other countries because of the severe effect the economic crisis had on the country combined with its historic tendency towards presentismo.

格劳表示，担忧失业导致很多西班牙劳动者不敢使用灵活工作制。由于受到经济危机的严重影响，加上历来都有"超时工作"的传统，使得西班牙人的担忧情绪可能高于其他国家。

“During the economic crisis there were abuses in work schedules, the fear of losing your job was very strong,” agrees Susana Pascual García, an environmental scientist at ACEFAT, a small business in Barcelona managing public infrastructure projects.

"在经济危机期间，出现了滥用工作安排的情况，人们非常担心失业。"巴塞罗那公共基础设施项目管理公司ACEFAT环境科学家苏萨纳·帕斯库尔·加西亚（Susana Pascual García）说。

Her firm is one of an growing number of Spanish companies encouraging their employees to embrace a more flexible working culture and making a concerted effort to move away from the old culture of presentismo.

西班牙有越来越多的公司鼓励员工拥抱更加灵活的工作文化，采取更加协调的措施来摆脱传统的"超时工作"文化。加西亚的公司便是其中之一。

According to a 2015 study by management software company Sage, 80% of small and medium-sized businesses in Spain are in favour of implementing measures that would improve the work-life balance for workers.

管理软件公司Sage 2015年发布的一项研究显示，80%的西班牙中小企业都赞成采取措施来帮助员工改善工作与生活之间的平衡。

“Turning off the lights at a predetermined time or not organising meetings from a certain time onwards are helping to change the situation,” says García.

"预定的时间一到就关掉电灯，或者在特定时间之后便不再开会，都有助于改变现状。"加西亚说。

Another company offering flexible working to its 100-plus employees is Tecalum, which produces aluminium parts in Girona, north eastern Spain.

在西班牙东北部城市赫罗纳（Girona）生产铝制零件的 Tecalum 公司，也向100多名员工提供灵活工作制。

“Many Spaniards spend too much time in the office, but in our case, if you compare it with the past, things have changed a lot,” says Maria Reig, head of Human Resources at the company. When Tecalum offered workers a two-hour break in the middle of the day, they instead requested  an hour’s break at midday and to finish the day an hour earlier, so they could get home.

"很多西班牙人都在办公室里花了太多时间，但在我们这里，如果跟以前比较一下，现在的情况发生了很大变化。"该公司人力资源负责人玛利亚·雷格（Maria Reig）说。当Tecalum公司提供员工两小时的午间休息时，他们反而要求缩短午休到一小时，然后提前一个小时下班早点回家。

Tecalum also offers its staff a flexible starting time each day. This approach has had a major impact on the lives of the people who work there.

Tecalum还允许员工灵活掌握每天开始工作的时间。这种方法对员工的生活产生了很大影响。

“A lot has changed in our case - there is usually no one left in the office at 6pm,” says Reig. “Giving workers more flexible hours makes them feel more satisfied and their productivity increases.”.

"我们公司发生了很大变化——下午6点的时候办公室里通常已经都没有人了。"雷格说，"由于员工可以灵活安排工作时间，所以他们的满意度提升了，生产力也提高了。"

In 2016 the Spanish government even tried to take steps to shorten the working day by up to two hours by putting an end to long lunch breaks.

2016年，西班牙政府甚至试图采取措施，取消长时间的午休，这样可以把工作日最多缩短2小时。

Power naps

好处多多

Some experts believe the traditional siesta may still have a place in the modern working world, especially when so many of us are apparently already sleep-deprived.

有的专家认为，传统午休在现代工作环境中或许仍有一席之地，尤其是在很多人仍然缺乏睡眠的当下。

A recent survey by the Flex Sleep Research Centre showed the average amount of sleep people get per night in Spain is 7.1 hours a night. While this is more sleep than people get in countries including the United States (where people sleep, on average, 6.8 hours a night) it’s still almost an hour shy of the eight hours recommended by experts and similar to other developed countries like the UK, where 70% of people sleep seven hours or less.

Flex Sleep研究中心最近的一项调查显示，西班牙人平均每晚睡眠时间只有7.1小时。虽然比美国（平均每晚6.8小时）等国家略长，但仍然比专家推荐的8小时睡眠少了近1小时。这一点与英国等其他发达国家类似，英国约有70%的人每晚睡眠为7小时或更少。

Spaniards’ sleeping habits may be partly explained by the fact that General Francisco Franco moved the country’s clocks forward an hour in solidarity with Nazi Germany during the second world war. Some experts believe returning the nation to its former time zone would go some way to addressing the issue of sleep deprivation among Spaniards.

弗朗西斯哥·弗朗哥（Francisco Franco）将军在二战期间把西班牙的时钟调快一个小时，以便跟纳粹德国保持一致。西班牙人目前的睡眠习惯可能跟这段历史有关。有的专家认为，把时间调回原先的时区有助于解决西班牙人睡眠不足的问题。 

The Spanish also go to sleep later than their European neighbours. According to Eurostat, Spaniards go to bed, on average, at midnight, compared to Germans at 10pm, the French at 10.30pm and Italians at 11pm.

西班牙人入睡的时间也比欧洲邻国都晚。根据欧洲统计局的数据，西班牙人平均入睡时间都在午夜，而德国人在晚上10点，法国为10:30，意大利为11点。

“As in other developed countries, there is a pronounced deficit of sleep with respect to our ancestors - around 1.2 or 1.3 hours compared with our grandparents,” says Ortega, who also works at the European Sleep Research Laboratories at the General University Hospital of Castellon. He believes there may still be a place for the siesta in Spain and other parts of the world.

"与其他发达国家一样，我们的睡眠也远少于祖辈——跟祖父母相比大约少了1.2或1.3个小时。"奥特佳说，他还任职于卡斯特隆大学医学院（General University Hospital of Castellon）的欧洲睡眠研究院。他认为，午睡在西班牙和世界其他地方或许仍然占有一席之地。

“A brief siesta helps us to alleviate stress, strengthens the immune system and improves performance,” he said.

"中午小睡可以帮助我们缓和压力，还能加强免疫系统、提升绩效。"他说。

But if the siesta is to survive into the 21st century, it will perhaps have to become more compatible with office work culture in big cities. Some companies are already thinking of new ways for Spaniards to enjoy a snooze without it interfering with their busy work schedules.

但如果想让午睡在21世纪继续存在下去，或许就必须与大城市的办公室文化加强兼容性。有的公司已经开始为西班牙人思考新的方式，以便在不干扰忙碌的工作安排的情况下，仍然能够享受午睡。

21st Century siesta

21世纪的午睡

Sleep pods were trialled in Madrid’s Atocha train station in early 2017, offering busy office workers the chance to grab 40 winks during their lunch breaks. The initiative, run by online booking website Hotels.com, ran under the slogan “‘save our siesta”’.

马德里的阿托查车站（Atocha）在2017年试点安装了一批睡眠仓，让忙碌的办公室职员有机会在午休期间小睡片刻。这个项目由在线酒店预订网站Hotels.com运营，口号是"拯救午睡"。

The trial proved popular with Madrileños, who snapped up the chance of a quick rest during the busy work day.

这个试点项目受到马德里人的欢迎，他们纷纷借此机会在忙碌的工作日享受快捷的休息方式。

“As a Spaniard, I’ve always known that the siesta is an important part of our culture,” says Santi Perez Olano, senior marketing manager at Hotels.com  “There are countless studies that show that around 20-30 minutes of daytime sleep can contribute to a decrease in fatigue and an increase in concentration.

"作为一个西班牙人，我一直都知道午睡是我们文化的重要组成部分。"Hotels.com高级营销经理桑迪·佩雷斯·奥拉诺（Santi Perez Olano）说，"数不尽研究都表明，20到30分钟的日间睡眠可以降低疲劳，提升注意力。"

 “If the siesta can help improve productivity, perhaps it should be redesigned for modern life.”

"如果午睡有助于提高效率，或许就应该针对现代化的生活对其进行改造。"

Some people are integrating the benefits of a siesta into modern life by using technology. SiestAPP, launched in 2014 by Spanish developers, is one of many sleep-optimisation apps promising to help users replicate the Spanish siesta by measuring their sleep patterns, then waking them just when they are likely to be the most refreshed and revitalised.

有的人借助技术手段把午睡的好处融入了现代生活。西班牙软件开发者2014年推出的 SiestAPP 就是众多睡眠优化应用之一，号称能帮助用户衡量睡眠状态，然后在他们获得充分休息、焕发新生的最佳时机将其叫醒。

“The siesta should not be incompatible with today’s working life, even in the workplace,” says Juan José Ortega. “If employees can have a coffee or a smoke, then why not a nap?”

"午睡不应该与当今的工作生活相互排斥，即便是在办公场所也不例外。" 朱安·琼斯·奥特佳说，"如果员工可以喝咖啡，可以抽烟，为什么不能打个盹？"

来源：好英语网