So you fell asleep during a meeting at work… now what? This is a touchy topic, especially for those that have been in this situation…including myself. One day, a personnel & organization (P&O) agent was giving a 15-minute presentation and unfortunately, that’s when it happened—I nodded off… a couple of times.
Although I apologized to my line manager and the P&O agent afterwards, I still felt the sting of being told I was disrespectful for doing so; however, later I thought to myself, “Who purposely nods off during a meeting?” That question forced me to do some research.
I discovered that in Japan, “inemuri,” which is often translated as “sleeping on duty,” is viewed as a subtle sign of diligence: You must be working yourself to exhaustion. As a matter of fact, books written on this subject state it would be more accurate to render it as “sleeping while present.”
How many times have we watched or read about political leaders falling asleep during world conferences? Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev nodded off during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and not too long ago, someone’s United Nations’ speech was so boring that world leaders nodded off.
And no, I do not hold the status of a world leader but I must admit when I see (or hear for that matter) the aforementioned person on television; I tend to daydream…which leads to dreaming… which is often a side effect of sleeping, but I digress.
Keep in mind it doesn’t matter how disinterested you are, this doesn’t give you a pass to nod off at every meeting—excluding sleeping disorders and/or health issues.
It could be because of indoor air pollution; levels of carbon dioxide tend to build up in rooms over time while oxygen levels decline, leading to stale, stuffy, air, and slow-working brains.
A study last year by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found CO2 levels are worst in meeting rooms, and also in classrooms. Or you could simply be bored, tired or just prefer an e-mail to the superfluous but mandatory meeting.
Either way, doodle, grin and bear it, perfect the art of sleeping with your eyes open…or just try to go to bed early.
Bernina M. Moore
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