My goal for this project was to learn more about the history and health benefits of siestas and create an artifact that would inform people interested in travel and siestas about this information. I definitely achieved my goal of learning about siestas. Not only do I have a much more extensive knowledge about siestas, I learned more about how they can help and hurt your health. I also went more in depth as to why the siesta has been disappearing from countries that have had them in the past. The self-directing and managing of this process was hard at times. At first it wasn't easy keeping myself on track and having to figure everything out on my own. But as we got farther into the project, it became a lot easier to learn everything and get everything done. I've learned about how siestas were started and why different countries close down their business after lunch for this mid afternoon nap. Most of the countries that take siestas are in tropical climates so lunch time is the hottest time of the day. Closing down at this time keeps them out of the sun and gives them time to refresh to be able to open back up afterwards and be more attentive for the rest of the day. I also learned that many studies have found that siestas can be beneficial for one's cardiovascular health and coronary system but other studies show that they could have negative health benefits. This showed me that there should definitely be more research put into this topic to find out exactly how siestas affect one's health. Many countries are doing away with the mid afternoon nap though because their governments are pushing to become more productive in a time of high unemployment and debt. Some countries are also getting rid of them to try and keep up with the American work style of all work and no play. I received feedback that said that I could've gone more in depth into my research and designed my artifact to be a little more pleasing to the eye. I think that there is a lot of other information out there that I could've added but it also could've been a little overwhelming to the audience. As for the design of my artifact, I believe that less is more so I think my simpler design is easier to the eyes and draws the focus to my actual information. After receiving this feedback, I did do some more research and added some more information to my artifact. Overall, I was really pleased with how it turned out and learned a lot from the project.
It's Time for a Siesta
