Why labs need a napping room to help you work, rest and play

About this episode

Joseph Jebelli discusses the importance of napping and rest in combating burnout and enhancing productivity in the scientific workplace.

Joseph Jebelli believes burnout and overwork has reached pandemic levels, telling Holly Newson that it kills 750,000 people annually, with three out of five workers struggling to maintain a healthy work-life balance.   His 2025 book, The Brain At Rest , proposes that regular bouts of doing nothing can change your life. Finding time to let your mind wander and take a daily 30-minute nap can make you more creative and efficient, he argues.   In the fourth episode of a six-part podcast series focused on books about the scientific workplace, Jebelli describes the "productivity guilt" he felt during his neuroscience PhD at University College London, where he studied the cell biology of neurodegenerative diseases, followed by a postdoc at the University of Washington, Seattle. "It's the guilt in which you equate your worth as a human being with your output, with how many hours you're in the lab. If it were up to me, there would be a napping room in all laboratories. We have to get it out of our heads that we’re switching off, shirking, or being irresponsible or reckless. We’re actually helping our brains produce our best work.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…

People in this episode

Host: Holly Newson

Guest: Joseph Jebelli

Topics covered

• burnout
• work-life balance
• creativity
• neuroscience
• productivity
• napping

Keywords

• burnout
• napping room
• work-life balance
• creativity
• neuroscience
• productivity guilt
• The Brain At Rest

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University College London, University of Washington

Books & works: The Brain At Rest

More episodes of Working Scientist

• How jazz boosts my creativity in physics · May 29, 2026 · 20 min
• Hit a lab project glitch? Thinking about your thesis title like a storyteller can help you focus · May 22, 2026 · 16 min
• Running a farm, pursuing a research career: what’s the difference? · May 15, 2026 · 14 min
• How a passion for baking fermented a fresh career move · May 8, 2026 · 16 min
• How sewing can set you up for failure and success in science · April 30, 2026 · 18 min
• Hit a glitch in your research? Some ‘night science​​​​​​​’ thinking could move it forward · April 23, 2026 · 23 min