The siesta isn't as Spanish as we think, nor does it cost us as much sleep: what 4,289 siestas across Europe reveal

Madrid, 10 November 2026.– The siesta has a reputation for being Spanish, but the data tell a different story. Germans nap almost as much as Spaniards, the Portuguese take the longest breaks, and Sunday is Europeans' favourite day for a snooze.

These are some of the findings of a study by DuckDik, the Spanish wellness wristband company, which analysed 4,289 siestas recorded by 1,205 users in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Portugal over the past 60 days.

The results challenge some clichés. Seven in ten participants took at least one siesta during the two months analysed, and one in five naps at least once a week.

Spain tops the ranking, with 23% of users taking a siesta every week, but the gaps with other countries are smaller than one might expect. Italy reaches 20%, Germany 19% and France 18%. Portugal, at 11%, is the country where the habit is least common, although its siestas are the longest.

“We've always thought of the siesta as a very Spanish habit, but it turns out Germans take almost as many as we do. Perhaps the siesta is far more European than we imagined,” says Alberto Lorente, co-founder and CEO of DuckDik.

Sunday is the king of the siesta

The typical siesta lasts 40 minutes, although many people take their time. 38% go beyond 45 minutes, and one in ten lasts more than an hour and a half.

Italians and the French take the shortest ones, with a typical length of 35 to 36 minutes. The Portuguese, although they nap less often, are the ones who stretch their siestas out the most.

The day of the week also plays a role. Sunday is the big siesta day: one is recorded on 12% of the Sundays analysed, compared with around 8% of weekdays.

In Italy, siesta frequency almost doubles at the weekend. In Spain, by contrast, the difference is smaller, because Spaniards are also the ones who most often turn to this break during the week.

Age makes another difference. From the age of 65, one in three users takes a siesta every week, although their naps tend to be shorter. Under-35s, on the other hand, take the longest siestas.

What if the siesta didn't cost us so much sleep at night?

One of the study's most interesting findings concerns a common worry: the fear that sleeping in the afternoon will stop you from resting well at night.

To look into this, DuckDik compared each user's nights after a siesta of more than 45 minutes with their own nights without a siesta, taking the same day of the week into account.

The result was striking: after a long siesta, participants slept on average just six minutes less at night. Bedtime barely changed.

In Spain the difference was somewhat larger, at around 13 minutes less night-time sleep.

This does not mean that a long siesta never harms rest, but it does challenge the idea that sleeping in the afternoon necessarily ruins our night. Among the users analysed, the average reduction in night-time sleep was small.

“Lots of people avoid the siesta because they think they won't sleep afterwards. The curious thing is that our data show a difference of just a few minutes. Everyone is different, and what matters is finding out how your own body responds,” explains Lorente.

Two months of siestas in five European countries

The study is based on aggregated data from 1,205 DuckDik wristband users between 9 September and 8 November 2026. In total, 4,289 siestas lasting at least 20 minutes were analysed.

This is an observational analysis that describes participants' habits, without claiming to represent the European population as a whole or to establish cause-and-effect relationships. To protect privacy, only results for groups of at least 50 people are published.

The full report and methodology are available below.

Annex: data by country and methodology

Days with a siesta by day of the week: between 7.5% and 8.1% from Monday to Friday, 9.7% on Saturday and 12.0% on Sunday. Weekdays vs weekend: Spain from 9.1% to 11.7%, Italy from 7.0% to 11.5%, Germany from 7.8% to 9.8% and France from 5.9% to 8.4%.

Siesta and the following night: for each person, the night after a siesta of more than 45 minutes is compared with their own nights without a siesta on the same day of the week (Sunday with Sunday, Tuesday with Tuesday), across 497 people in the five countries.

Methodology: daily aggregated data that the DuckDik app syncs with the user's account (never raw signals), from 9 September to 8 November 2026. People with at least 21 days of records are included; each person's country is the one that appears most often for them. “Weekly siesta” means at least one siesta for every seven days with records. Only siestas of 20 minutes or more that the app recognises or that the person confirms are counted. Figures are given only for groups of 50 people or more; the over-65 group comprises 79 people. Valid nights: between 3 and 14 hours of sleep, with a bedtime between 19:00 and 06:00. Observational study: it describes this sample of DuckDik users, not the whole population.

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