日本是一个以加班和过劳死闻名的国度。近年来，日本企业为了让员工不加班、少熬夜，也是操碎了心。有公司推出专供员工在上班时间睡觉的卧室，还有公司给员工发放“早睡奖金”。这些措施真的能改变日本全民缺觉的现状吗？

Imagine working for an employer who, aware that you’re probably not sleeping enough at night, allows you to down tools and nap as part of your regular work duties – and not just forty winks¹ at your desk, but a restorative snooze in a quiet room.

考虑到你晚上可能睡眠不足，允许你放下工作去小憩，而且，不是在桌上趴一会儿，而是在一个安静的房间里好好睡一觉，养足精神。这样的老板你能想象吗？

down tools: 罢工；静坐

restorative: adj. 滋补的，有助于复元的；恢复健康的

These are some of the measures being used by a growing number of companies in Japan to counter an epidemic² of sleeplessness³ that costs its economy an estimated $138bn a year.

这只是日本越来越多的公司为了对抗普遍的失眠症采取的一部分措施。据估计，员工失眠每年导致日本经济损失1380亿美元（9454.8亿元人民币）。

Tech startups have been quickest to address the “sleep debt” among irritable⁴ and uNPRoductive employees.

科技初创企业是最早采取措施来解决员工缺觉问题的。失眠导致员工急躁易怒、生产效率低下。

Last year, Nextbeat, an IT service provider, went as far as setting up two “strategic sleeping rooms” – one for men, the other for women – at its headquarters in Tokyo. The aroma-infused rooms feature devices that block out background noise, allowing workers to stretch out on sofas for an undisturbed kip. Mobile phones, tablets and laptops are banned.

去年，IT服务供应商Nextbeat居然还在东京的总部设立了两个“战略卧室”，一个给女性，一个给男性。这个香气飘散的房间有隔绝背景噪声的设备，能让员工在沙发上不受打扰地睡上一觉。手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑都被禁止带入房间。

"Napping can do as much to improve someone’s efficiency as a balanced diet and exercise,” Emiko Sumikawa, a member of the Nextbeat board, told Kyodo news agency.

Nextbeat的董事会成员澄川惠美子告诉共同社说：“睡觉能够和均衡的饮食和锻炼一样提高工作效率。”

Nextbeat also asks employees to leave work by 9 pm and to refrain from doing excessive overtime⁵, which has been blamed on a rising incidence of karoshi, or death from overwork.

Nextbeat还请员工在晚上9点前下班，并且尽量不要加班太久。加班被视为“过劳死”高发的元凶。

One company even offers financial incentives⁶ to persuade its employees to shun⁷ overtime and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Crazy, a wedding planning company, awards employees who sleep at least six hours a night with points that can then be exchanged for food in the company cafeteria. Using an app to monitor their sleep, workers can accumulate points worth as much as 64,000 yen⁸ a year.

一家公司甚至提供奖金来说服员工不要加班、早点睡觉。婚庆策划公司Crazy用积分奖励那些每晚至少睡六个小时的员工，这些积分可以用来换购公司食堂的食物。员工通过一个应用来监控自己的睡眠时间，一年攒下的积分价值可达6.4万日元（4034元人民币）。

cafeteria: n. 自助餐厅

Japanese workers have more reason than most to submit to the urge for a daytime snooze, whether at work or during long commutes⁹.

相比多数国家的员工，日本员工有更多理由去享受白天的小憩，无论是在工作期间还是在漫长的通勤路上。

A survey conducted using fitness trackers in 28 countries found that Japanese men and women sleep, on average, just 6 hours and 35 minutes a night – 45 minutes less than the international average – making them the most sleep deprived of all.

在28个国家用健身追踪器开展的一项调查发现，日本男性和女性平均每晚睡眠时间只有6小时35分钟，比国际平均水平少45分钟，这意味着日本人是全世界最缺觉的人。

Finnish women, by contrast, sleep almost an hour longer, with an average of 7.45 hours. Estonians, Canadians, Belgians, Austrians, as well as the Dutch and French, all get a comparatively decent night’s sleep, according to the survey.

相比之下，芬兰女性的平均睡眠时间达7.45小时，比日本人的睡眠时间多出将近一个小时。调查显示，爱沙尼亚人、加拿大人、比利时人、奥地利人，还有荷兰人和法国人的睡眠时间都相对较长。

A separate poll by the health products maker¹⁰ Fuji Ryoki found that 92.6% of Japanese over the age of 20 said they were not getting enough sleep.

保健品制造商富士开展的另一项调查发现，20岁以上的日本人有92.6%表示自己睡眠不足。

Even weary workers whose employers have yet to officially sanction power naps at least know that resting their head on their desk for a few minutes probably won’t get them into trouble. Companies generally tolerate inemuri – or “sleeping while present” – as a demonstration¹¹ of their employees’ commitment rather than as a sign of sloth¹², although nappers should generally remain seated and avoid appearing too comfortable.

即使在那些还未正式允许员工在工作期间补觉的公司，困倦的员工至少也知道，在桌子上趴几分钟并不会给自己招来麻烦。日本公司普遍都容忍“上班打瞌睡”，认为这不但不是偷懒，反而还说明员工很尽职，不过打盹者通常都坐着，而且睡的样子还不能太舒服。

sloth: n. 怠惰，懒惰

The government has also come to appreciate the personal and professional benefits of a well-rested workforce¹³, with the health ministry¹⁴ recommending that all working-age people take a nap of up to 30 minutes in the early afternoon – advice readily embraced by some of the country’s politicians.

日本政府也已经意识到了劳动者得到充分休息对个人和工作的益处，日本卫生部（厚生劳动省）建议所有适龄劳动人口午后都要午休30分钟以上，这个建议一经提出便得到了一些政界人士的赞同。

readily: adv. 容易地；乐意地；无困难地