The Meaning Of Nappiness

I had never heard of 'nappiness' until two days ago. I was sitting in my favourite cafe with a cappuccino and, possibly a piece of cake, reading the newspaper. Until then if you had asked me the meaning of 'nappiness' I would have hesitantly suggested it was how a baby felt when wearing a fresh, clean, soft nappy.

I came across an article claiming having a regular short nap (under 30 minutes) makes people happier. The article claimed the word 'nappiness' had been coined to describe the contented feeling a person gets after talking a short nap during the day.

More than a thousand people did an online survey, answering questions of a psychological nature. Some questions were about daytime napping.

From this survey it was found those who often had a daytime nap of less than 30 minutes were more likely to be happy than those who didn't nap or who took longer naps. About 66% of those who took short naps reported feeling happy compared to 60% of those who didn't take naps. 56% of the participants who took longer naps reported feeling happy.



I later googled 'nappiness' and found various pieces of information.

It can mean hairiness or shagginess. It seems the word is rarely used now in this conext. However it can now refer to frizzy hair especially the type some African American people have.

It is also a noun meaning obstinacy or disobedience exhibited by a horse.


A bit more research uncovered a company called 'Pure Nappiness'. This company produces eco friendly reusable cloth nappies and similar products. Ahhh so my original reaction to the word was pretty close to correct.

I often ask myself how we ever found out anything before the internet. But then, from memory, I don't think I was as inquisitive back then.


#_happy
#_meaning
#_nappiness
#_sleep


%selfavenue