About a week ago, my Spanish teacher was talking about how after eating lunch, people in Spain take the siesta. A siesta is a midday nap or resting period. In Spain, people usually work from 9-2, then go home, eat lunch with the family, and take a nap. During this time, the entire country is asleep--stores are closed, nobody is on the streets. They then return to work at about 5 until 8. According to the CIA World Factbook, Spain has the 15th highest life expectancy (81 years) in the world. However, productivity in Spain is significantly lower than America's and the other European nations.
In contrast, typical American working hours are from 9-5 with about a half-hour or 45 minutes for a lunch break. Unlike Spain, the USA has a very high productivity, but the life expectancy is lower. I think there is a direct correlation between working hours, productivity and health/life expectancy. This just goes to show how unalike Spain's and America's value systems are. Do Americans value work and money over personal health? Personally, I think more time should be spent on reducing stress and overall health, but would that cause the country's productivity to lower?
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| Typical rush hour traffic in Chicago |
Becky, I think this is a very interesting topic that you brought up. I agree that there probably is a direct correlation between work and money vs stress. I think Americans definitely should spend more time relaxing than they do already because if one is calm, they may be more likely to get more efficient effort in. This is one facet of life that the Europeans definitely have us beat on!
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