Are you sleepy?
Students are one of the most sleep-deprived populations — a study published in 2014 says more than 70% of students reported sleeping less than eight hours per day, and more than 50% of students reported feeling sleepy during the day.
At San Francisco State University, chairs and tables are pushed aside every Tuesday and Thursday to make room for cots in Room 105 of the Mashouf Wellness Center. The carpeted classroom is transformed into the Zen Den, which was relaunched this semester and runs from noon to 3 p.m. on those days.
This follows a trend across the United States. In the past decade, more and more American universities have added places to nap — including ones in the Bay Area such as the University of California, Berkeley and California State University, East Bay.
Sabrina Sousa is the fitness and wellness coordinator at the wellness center and oversees the Zen Den program.
According to Sousa, the program started in 2019 before the pandemic halted it.
“It was relaunched in the 2022-2023 school year, and stopped from 2023-2024 to do more marketing and get surveys for better timings for students,” Sousa said. “Our goal was to make it as accessible to student needs as possible. After we collected the data, we launched again.”
Although the space is intended for students, Sousa says faculty are allowed to use it too. However, it’s not open to the general public.
When the program launched, blankets and pillows were provided by Mashouf Wellness Center but now, Zen Den users are recommended to bring their own pillows and blankets.
“We still provide pillows and blankets. We used to have more blankets but we didn’t like re-up after we didn’t have a big following,” Sousa said. “We’re more than happy to get more blankets once people start coming a little bit more.”
Sousa says the recommendation was added because people might be more comfortable with their own pillows and blankets. Though the room isn’t supervised, an employee at the center checks on the room regularly and lockers are available at the center for those who want their items stored more securely.
Maison Thompson, a third-year communications student, was in Mashouf Wellness Center when he saw the Zen Den sign and thought it was nice to be able to nap on campus.
“It’s kind of nice to be able to have a home away from home, especially for people commuting to school,” Thompson said. “It’s a pretty catchy name […] I’d love if we just kind of had a little bit more posters around campus — just advertise it.”
Most students might not be aware of it. According to an Instagram poll conducted by Golden Gate Xpress, 83% of 144 Instagram followers who answered the poll weren’t aware of the program. Golden Gate Xpress also asked 47 students in person if they knew about it — only two did.
One of them was Rylissa Javier, a fourth-year psychology student who heard about the Zen Den from her on-campus job.
“We’re mostly a commuter school, lots of commuter students, so there should definitely be a push more to accommodate our commuter students and their needs,” Javier said.
Barbara Henderson, the director of SFSU’s Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, talked about how students need sleep to function well in school.
“Sleep is a non-negotiable for human functioning, and the lack of sleep or compromised sleep for even one night significantly affects memory, problem-solving, and social functioning,” Henderson said. “Lack of sleep also affects our reserves to mount an immune response to illness and compromises our resilience to stress, even when it’s good stress, like engaging in the challenge of a well-taught class or working out plans with friends.”
Daniel Smith, a fifth-year political science student, noticed the Zen Den sign when he entered the center but wasn’t sure what it was — thinking it was maybe yoga at first.
He says he liked the noon to 2 p.m. timing, stating that it’s good for students who just want a small nap between classes.
“I think it would be cool if we could see like a couple more popping up across different places on campus and making it a little more accessible to students,” Smith said.
Editor’s note: The hours for Zen Den were recently updated and this story has been changed to reflect that. The hours at the time of publication were accurate.
