26 minutes that will reduce stress and relax the mind. "Such seemingly nothing, but space"

Maria Hawranek: I walk into your café. What do I see, what do I feel?

Magdalena Filcek, author of the Vinci Power Nap® – Kawiarenka Snu® system: The Sleep Café is on the market square in Wrocław, outside there is noise, smog. When you enter the room, you immediately experience the silence and hear the soft chirping of birds. In the cloakroom, you pull off your shoes, put on disposable socks, and switch your phone to aeroplane mode. And you don’t have to do anything else.

What happens next?

You walk into a forested interior, lined with soft, artificial grass that is imported from Belgium. It is 6.5 inches long and feels natural. People who walk in crouch down to touch it. They are already relaxing and this is just the beginning of the session. In the room there is a wall mural with a view of a birch grove, there are real dried birches with leaves. The air is cleaned of PM2.5 and PM10 particulates, humidified, ionised and infused with the smell of freshly cut grass. The lighting is subtle. We soothe the senses: smell, hearing, sight, touch. If one wishes, one can also soothe the sense of taste with birch sap. Once a person gets used to the interior, I help them enter the sling. In it, you naturally assume the zero gravity position, which is that of an astronaut in space. In a sling there is no single point of support, as in a chair, which forces the muscles to work, but there are thousands of them, which allows them to relax freely. People say it’s incredibly comfortable, like stepping into butter. And now people who don’t have a problem with the vagus, such as motion sickness, can be rocked.

As in a hammock?

Not at all. The direction of rocking is very important – not sideways, but forward and backward, like in a pendulum. This is the direction of flow of our physiological fluids, blood and lymph.

And why is it so important that rocking goes hand in hand with this direction?

One moment (Magdalena disappears and appears with a bottle of water in her hand, holding it horizontally). Our bodies are 60-70% made up of water, and although we can’t see it, in every cell it behaves similarly, just like the water in the bottle, the laws of physics act on it. Imagine that the bottle is a person, the cap is the heart. It beats to push blood to the legs and back, and of course to the head. When we rock in the same direction, the fluids synchronise with the direction, plus microgravity, hypergravity and centrifugal force interact in the sling to help move them. This allows the heart to rest. In my research, I have found that people who have 90 or 100 beats per minute before getting into the sling have 60-70 beats per minute after getting out. This is the ideal beat rate for the heart. Breathing and brainwaves are also synchronised. We loosen up all over. Some people say: it feels like after an hour-long massage, or: I feel so put together. They begin to feel their body and mind. Everything that our civilisation has disconnected from us makes up the here and now.

How long is a session?

20 minutes, an optimal nap should be no longer. Not everyone falls asleep, but that’s okay, these individuals will also relax and calm down by staying in the best conditions created for a short, energising nap.

Why 20 minutes – is it after that that we enter the next phase of sleep?

In the 1990s, Dr Mark Rosekind conducted research on aeroplane pilots for NASA. When a pilot begins a flight, they are well rested. Hours pass, fatigue sets in, which lasts until the landing comes – the most critical and stressful moment. According to another study – from 2001, conducted on physicians and published in the British Medical Journal – an overtired surgeon makes twice as many mistakes. A pilot’s fatigued mind gets a cortisol and adrenaline rush when the stress of landing is elevated, which can cause what’s known as micro-naps. Sometimes they are experienced by drivers – they think they can make it despite being tired, and suddenly the car does a ‘ddddd’ leaving the lane. That’s what a micro-nap is, very dangerous, especially during a landing manoeuvre. NASA has been looking for ways to refresh pilots’ minds. Ruskind thought about naps. It turned out that after 40 or 50 minutes, the pilots were getting up even more tired than when they went to sleep. But after 5, 10, all the way up to 26 minutes – they were getting up full of energy, had more alertness, productivity and creativity. It’s known professionally as a NASA power nap. The best naps take place in twilight and a quiet place with minimal distractions.

It seems that various great minds also used naps.

Yes, for example, Leonardo da Vinci, Edison, Tesla, Einstein, Churchill, Salvador Dalí. They assumed they were using the mind, and it was a tool that needed to rest. Even a computer, if it runs too long, will overheat. I’ll tell you how they controlled their length because, after all, there were no alarm clocks in those days. They would sit in a soft armchair, take a metal key in their hand, and place a metal plate or bucket next to the armchair. Their hands dangled outside the chair. They fell asleep. As they transitioned from the energetic phase of sleep into a deeper one, their muscles relaxed, the key fell down and the sound woke them up at the perfect moment. At night we sleep in phases of an hour and a half each. If you take a nap, it should last up to 26 minutes or an hour and a half. Or a multiple of that time.

I understand that you do it yourself?

Almost every day. At first I would set an alarm clock for myself, but after four years of intense naps, my body has learned to wake up at the right time. I lay down in the sling around 1 p.m., and by 1:20 or 1:25 p.m. I’m ready to go.

What are the benefits of snoozing in a sling in a nice space?

The Sleep Café is used to quickly reduce stress and relax the body and mind, bringing instant calm to overburdened senses and regeneration. The neuroarchitecturally designed interior and rocking in the sling have a soothing effect, bringing a sense of tranquillity, bliss, and promoting deep muscle relaxation. Rocking relieves headaches, shoulder pain, back pain and menstrual pain, it supports health. Being cuddled by the sling gives a sense of security like in the womb, we feel loved and accepted. The whole experience is also a lot of fun. And the Vinci Power Nap system further supports the depth and quality of night-time sleep and falling asleep in the evening.

There is a belief that if we allow ourselves to nap during the day, we will not be able to fall asleep later in the evening.

Because not all people know how long to nap for. They sleep for too long or too late. If one goes to bed too late, it can disrupt the home rhythm, one needs to take a nap preferably between 12 and 4 p.m., and sleep up to 26 minutes, preferably when one feels tired. And relaxing in a sling is possible at any time.

How does swinging in a sling translate to menstrual relief?

We feel a lot of tension before our period, any noise seems amplified, we are more sensitive, a place of quiet does us well. Zero gravity rocking is great for relaxing the deep muscles, which reduces the sensation of abdominal pain and provides relief from tension and anxiety. Also, sometimes people say that they feel and hear the peristalsis of the intestines, because suddenly the relaxed abdominal muscles begin to work freely.

In your opinion, do employers even pay attention to the issue of menstruation in the workplace?

Awareness of the need to take care of the well-being of employees is growing, and since statistically half of them menstruate, I think that soon all companies will make an effort to take care of their employees’ comfort during this time. A well-rested employee is a more effective, healthier, and engaged employee, which directly translates to job performance and an overall better team atmosphere.

What if someone doesn’t know how to rest? How can you stop the galloping thoughts in your head And what if someone keeps updating their to-do list in the sling?

A lot of people like that come to me. During the session they fall asleep or they don’t, but when they leave they say: this is the only place where my thoughts stopped, finally my head is not working. Though not everyone. Several people also told me: I didn’t fall asleep, I didn’t stop thinking, but I found the solution to my problem. Eureka! Because with such a moment of relaxation and quieting of the senses, the brain becomes more creative. It remembers better and learns better. Geniuses have very often found the solution to a problem in a nap. I will immodestly say that I don’t know a better way to turn off galloping thoughts than the Vinci Power Nap System.

How did you come up with this idea?

I created it for myself. I was writing a research paper, I was overtired, and I was recovering from serious surgery. I had been writing since the morning and after a few hours around 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. my brain was no longer taking in information, I was reading but I didn’t know what. I was unproductive. I told myself: I can’t go to bed, even though I’m tired, because I won’t have time to write. But the longer I sat, the less I wrote. Okay, I’m going to take a nap, I decided. At first, I snoozed on my hand in front of the computer. My brain was refreshing, but my body was screaming: no! After my knee surgery, I had a special exercise sling in my office. I went into it and curled up into a ball and fell asleep without even knowing when. I woke up feeling like a newborn baby. It was so wonderful that I wanted to experience it every day.

It’s hard to give yourself permission to sleep during the day.

Very many people say: if I take a nap, it’s like I’m slowing down or going backwards, time flies and I’m doing nothing, it’s laziness. And laziness is not welcome. I then say, imagine a bow and arrow. We want it to fly far. In order for this to happen, it must first be reversed, then it will gain momentum. A 20-minute nap is like pulling back an arrow in a bow – we step back and only then do we gain the strength and momentum to have more energy and ability to fly further and more accurately throughout the day.

Okay, but how did the Sleep Café emerge from those office naps?

As I entered that sling once again, I didn’t always manage to fall asleep. I was bitter: I was hanging and hanging and not sleeping. I began to wonder what was bothering me. I am an interior designer by trade, so I began to wonder if there was something in the room that might be interfering with my sleep process in some way. I’m lying down, I can smell the smells from the restaurant below my office through the open window, I’m hungry, my digestive juices are kicking in, and I can smell the city smog. So I bought an air purifier. I close the windows, but the noise is still coming from the outside – I can hear shouting and the sound of cars in the background. So I replaced them with more soundproof ones and bought blinds to reduce harsh light. It was already much better, but still not perfect, because going to the sling, I walked on the panels with bare feet – they got unpleasantly cold. The cold causes muscles to squeeze and cortisol to be released, which made it difficult to fall asleep. So I decided to purchase soft grass for foot relaxation, and drank healthy and tasty birch sap before my nap. And so step by step, trying to soothe all my senses, I created this interior. Inspired by shinrin yoku, I decided to create a piece of a forest oasis in the city centre.

With whom in mind?

First – myself, then other working minds, e.g. corporate employees who at 1 p.m. drink a fourth cup of coffee, are exhausted, not always satisfied with their work, and their employers expect efficiency. A relaxed, healthier employee is more productive. In addition, it has also proven to be a great place for children who are often overstimulated, overloaded with learning, under-stimulated because their parents are busy. The headmaster of Primary School No. 84 in Wrocław arranged such a room for his students under the licence of the Sleep Café to meet their psychophysical needs, reduce stress levels, strengthen concentration, memory, creativity and reveal their potential. This place can also support tired teachers. I also created a Dream Café at the 2018 climate summit. 22 thousand people from all over the world, from different time zones The Vinci Power Nap system has been shown to be great at reducing jet lag, regenerating the body and mind. More than 500 people have benefited from it. And then we found that Sleep Cafés can be helpful for health care professionals – a paramedic came to the sessions and now says: ‘The Sleep Café restores my factory settings’. The space can also serve as a respite room for parents who have children with autism or disabilities to care for. For traumatised individuals – including soldiers.

Soldiers hanging in white cocoons?

Yes! The Ministry of National Defence is looking for ways to help veterans, and is interested in using the system I have created as much as possible in supporting trauma and PTSD therapy. I conducted research in cooperation with clinics and specialists on the amount of selected hormones in the blood, oxygenation, heart and brain work, including psychological history, etc. It turned out that the feeling of stress reduction among soldiers is almost immediate, the level of tension and anxiety decreases, the level of oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine increases, as well as the perceived safety. So all the uniformed services exposed to traumatic experiences would benefit from the Sleep Cafés.

In one word – everyone. And what are the connections of this system with NASA?

At one of the international conferences, I met a NASA manager who said that the project was brilliant and that they wanted to have Sleep Cafés in all of the centres. In creating the Vinci Power Nap system, I discovered how to create a zero gravity position on the ground, so I was made an honorary employee of NASA. As a preventive measure, they will be needed for flight controllers, because they have to be very vigilant and careful in their work, but also for astronauts, who can thus prepare themselves for the mission in slings, regenerate during the flight, as well as rehabilitate after returning, which was described in published research papers at IAC 2020, Springer Nature, and others. If it weren’t for the pandemic, I’d probably have them installed there by now.

Are there any Sleep Cafés outside of Wroclaw?

Before the pandemic, I had an invitation to go to NASA, to Dubai, where the Ministry of Health and Prevention wanted to have Sleep Cafés in the ministry building, and to start working with our Ministry of Defence. But the pandemic and lockdown froze implementation of the plans. Instead, I used the time to intensively research and publish breakthroughs of how the Vinci Power Nap System works. I often get inquiries from design firms and corporations to create a Sleep Café at their place, but I often disagree – because they expect it to be like a ball room, and here there has to be a caretaker of the place who will help enter the sling, swing it, watch over those resting and wake them up. The Vinci Power Nap System has received the 2019 Wellbeing Quality Certificate from the Wellbeing Institute and it is very important to maintain site quality. If the company isn’t ready, I don’t start collaboration. The system is patented and I licence it. My dream is to have a Sleep Café in every city in the world, in every school, business, airport, hospital, to be at everyone’s fingertips – supporting the well-being and work-life balance of all people.

And the sling itself can be purchased from you?

No, because it’s a whole system, I don’t separate its parts. Just like with a car – you can drive a bit on one wheel, but that’s not the point. A sling alone will not work optimally.

Too bad, I already pictured myself hanging it in the living room.

A friend after chemo fell asleep with me in the Sleep Café, came out of a session and says: I want one of these homes! She borrowed it for a month, my husband installed it. After two weeks, I ask: how’s it going? And she says: you lent me a broken sling! It doesn’t work! At your place I was blissful, safe. And at home it was like this: on the first day I miscalculated the space, my head hit the table, my feet hit the closet. I got upset and it spoiled my nap. On the second day the children looked into my sling, on the third day I had to get up to close the window, because the neighbour started to mow the lawn, and on the fourth day I thought that if I have to rock for 20 minutes, maybe I should go and peel some potatoes, they will cook just in time. And when I left, I didn’t come back, because when I was making potatoes, it turned out that the floor needed to be washed, etc. You can’t do that. Alternatively, you could take the sling into the woods, but you would also need a guardian. In order to get a safe night’s sleep, someone has to keep watch – scouts in tents in the forest always have someone on guard. The more so because in a sling the senses are sharpened, everything is felt and heard more... including oneself and one’s dreams. I once heard about the Sleep Café: it seemed to be nothing special, but it rocked.

Magdalena Filcek – neuro-architektka, wynalazczyni, projektantka, naukowczyni, pilotka balonów na ogrzane powietrze. Honorowa pracowniczka NASA. Autorka systemu Vinci Power Nap® – Kawiarenka Snu® (znak zastrzeżony) i wielu innych projektów, w tym Balonodrom Project© i Human-Space Institute©.

Autorka: Maria Hawranek

Ilustracja: Marta Frej

Tekst opublikowany na wysokieobcasy.pl 21 maja 2022 r.