Climbing into a bed and just dozing off for 45 minutes doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you’d expect to be doing in a gym, but one UK fitness club claims that its “napercise” classes can help exhausted parents better deal with their hectic daily lives by regenerating the mind, body and even burning a few calories.
New research recently revealed that there is a dangerous “tiredness epidemic” currently sweeping the UK, with 86% of parents reporting that they suffer from fatigue and 26% saying that they get less than five hours of sleep per night. In an effort to promote the benefits of sleep and boost people’s mental and physical wellbeing, David Lloyd Club, which operates dozens of gyms and fitness clubs throughout Europe, recently launched a “napercise class” that invites people to get 45 minutes of shut-eye instead of instead of burning themselves out even more with traditional fitness exercises.
Napercise classes consist of a 15-minute gentle stretching session and 45 minutes of blissful sleeping. Participants are guided to their single beds, which come equipped with blankets and eye masks, and get to fall asleep to relaxing “atmospheric” sounds. The temperature of the room in which the napercising takes place supposedly promotes calorie burning during sleep, so you’ll be getting some of the benefits of traditional fitness.
“Sleep is more important than people realize,” said dreams and sleep expert Kathryn Pinkham, who helped design the napercise class. “We tend to focus on the short-term effects such as being tired or lacking concentration, but it is also essential for our long-term physical and mental wellbeing too. In addition to a lack of sleep bringing with it a higher risk of developing anxiety or depression, when we are sleep deprived we lack the energy to exercise regularly, and also the mental clarity to make good decisions about the food we eat, which could negatively impact our physical health in the long-run.”
David Lloyd Clubs rolled out the new napercise class at their location in Sidcup, Kent, this weekend, as a trial. Considering the event was fully booked, we can expect to see napercise classes at their other locations in the UK in the near future, as well. So yeah, sleeping at the gym is apparently a thing now.