When you think of relaxing, you probably don't think of Washington, DC. Contrary to beliefs by many in the 50 states, Washington, DC employees, overwhelmingly political staffers, are very nice. They hate each other as part of the job, like Sam and Ralph in "Don't Give Up the Sheep", by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros.(1) They then clock out and are lovely, usually to each other but almost always to everyone else.

And they work hard, usually for little money. While career government jobs tend to pay better than the private sector, for Congressional staffers it is somewhere between earning nothing and having a poverty lifestyle in one of America's most wealthy places.

None of that sounds like relaxing but a new analysis of Google search terms by the Hush mattress company in Canada, like 'why can't I sleep?' finds that Washington, DC is doing well in being relaxed about their dysfunction.



Wyoming is the most relaxed state, we can all see how that might be, and Alaska is second - you don't live in a place with 67 days of darkness unless you are pretty chill - but that D.C. is even top 10 is surprising.

(1) A sample of their 'it is just business' relationship.