Take a load off and stand a spell.

Who hasn’t been tired at work and wanted to reap the mental and physical benefits of a quick nap? However, if you were to stretch out on the break room sofa, you’d likely disrupt the feng shui of the entire office, not to mention the fact that getting up after lying down can often be such an agonizing experience that it ends up negating the whole nap in the first place.

Now, there’s no more need to worry… Well, there’s only one thing to worry about, and that’s convincing your boss to invest in a Giraffenap. Giraffenap is a specially designed capsule that allows sleepy workers to remain upright while catching a few Zs, and it went on sale from 8 July.

▼ Person A: “You have a Giraffenap? But you aren’t sleepy…”
Person B (played by Samuel L. Jackson): “I know.”

According to research, sleeping upright can allow you to enter a stage of sleep that provides a lot of the health benefits of napping without making you groggy upon awakening. The rub is that it’s really hard to sleep standing up, and that’s actually how the inventor of Griaffenap got the idea in the first place.

While watching tired commuters on the busy trains of Japan, the inventor watched as knees buckled while people desperately clung to their straps and thought there had to be a better way. Giraffenap provides support to the upper body, buttocks, knees, and feet to let nappers feel secure and supported while they doze off.

Giraffenap takes up about 1.2 square meters (16 square feet) of floorspace and stands about 2.5 meters (8 feet) tall. It comes in two styles to fit differing aesthetic sensibilities. First, there’s the Spacia model that has a more clean, futuristic profile, resembling the place where a Galactic Stormtrooper might sneak off to after realizing they’re too tired to shoot anything accurately.

▼ I find your lack of napping disturbing.

Then, there’s the more organic-looking Forest model, a perfect fit for soothing environments that benefit from the tranquil tones of wood, like spas or clinics.

The inside of each capsule doesn’t really matter, because if you’re using Giraffenap right, the only thing you’ll be seeing is the inside of your eyelids.

▼ See? She knows what I’m talking about.

You might be getting the feeling that you’ve seen these boxes before, and you’d be right. This is not the first time Giraffenap has gone on sale, and we even tried them out firsthand a couple years ago. It seems widespread adoption has been a little tough, and this time Itoki Corporation is trying their hand at marketing them.

One major hurdle seems to be that they’re rather pricey and not targeted towards individual consumers. Exact prices are hard to come by, but there is a 5-year leasing option for about 61,000 yen (US$415) per month, making them considerably more expensive than beds. Itoki seems to be betting that previous attempts to sell Giraffenap were ahead of their time, and increased interest in workplace wellness programs might make these booths hot items.

So, if you hope to sleep like a giraffe, you’re probably best to nag your place of employment until they either break down and get one for you or get one for themselves just to get away from you. It’s a win either way.

Source: Giraffenap, CNET Japan, Itai News, PR Times (1, 2)
Images: PR Times (1, 2)
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