19 reasons to take a nap
Need an excuse to sneak in a nap this afternoon? We've got enough to last you weeks
Ellen Michaud with Julie Bain
Yeah, we know. You didn't sleep well last night. So why not take a nap?
Studies show that not only will you feel better almost immediately, says Sara Mednick, PhD, a sleep medicine researcher at the University of California at San Diego and author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life, but a daily nap of between 20 and 90 minutes before 4:00 pm will also increase your mental performance, reduce your chances of gaining weight, and make you feel a whole lot more like having sex after dinner than you probably do now. What's more, it won't affect your nighttime sleep.
All told, a nap, according to Dr. Mednick, will:
• Increase your on-the-job alertness by 100 percent
• Sharpen your thinking so you make more accurate judgments and better decisions
• Ramp up your productivity
• Regenerate skin cells so you look younger
• Increase your sex drive
• Help you lose weight by altering metabolism and shifting chemicals that affect appetite
• Reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular problems
• Lift your mood by bathing your brain in the neurotransmitter serotonin
• Speed up your ability to perform motor tasks, like typing, operating machinery, even swimming
• Improve your accuracy—in everything
• Improve the way your body processes carbs, which reduces your risk of diabetes
• Sharpen your senses so you take in what's important in your environment—and screen out the 24-hour culture chatter that surrounds us
• Put your brain into its creative gear so you can come up with fresh ideas
• Trigger a naturally occurring hormone that blocks the destructive chemicals produced by stress
• Boost your ability to learn something new—and, better yet, remember it
• Zap the need for drugs like caffeine and alcohol to manipulate your mood and energy level
• Relieve migraines
• Improve your nighttime sleep by eliminating that wired feeling and thus shutting off the brain chatter
• Make you feel good all over
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Sleep to Be Sexy, Smart and Slim, Reader's Digest
I have taken a nap every afternoon for most of my adult life, and it has done me the power of good. I find it especially beneficial when doing it in the bosses time and even more so when being paid overtime..
Mid day NAPS are the best!!! .....It rejuvenates you and all it takes is 15 mins. of SHHHHHH.......into a deep sleep. Ahhhhhhh.......
just to the first comment here about working 9-6
you are a negative nelly
this article is a bout a nap
not the basic needs of a human
so if you are going to rant about a list about NAPPING
do it to someone else, because it is annoying
hearing people like you go on about irrelevant points
Well,
that all sounds reasonable enough. Really. That said..
how about people who work 9-6? How are WE supposed to nap? And doesn't this article make us feel Just a little worse for putting our source of income (which safeguards our family's needs) above our own health? It does.
If I were to nap in the office, I'd get FIRED.
And during lunch, if any of you propose That idea,
most of us have just the time to eat, and last time I checked nourishment topped the list of human needs.
I love this article! Napping isn't only good for children but definitely good for adults. I've required an afternoon nap since I was in grade school. I haven't always been able to get one but I try. If you have kids try to arrange nap time during the time when you would like to nap and for the kids who don't nap, (my older son) "quiet time" is a good thing to have them do. It does wonders for my boys. They are much more alert even if they didn't sleep. The arrangement that I have keeps everyone more relaxed throughout the day...especially me!
I really believe napping is one of the best way to make us live long. We need a complete sleep and rest to make a quality result in everything we do.
I LOVE all these reasons, but I'm clearly strange and almost always feel worse after a midday nap. :(
My list keeps growing! :)
I certainly don't need 19 reasons to take a nap...this just serves to encourage my napping. As my business increases, I would like to establish a napping policy which encourages employees to take naps...even by giving them a space to nap.
iT IS SO GOOD TO READ ABOUT NAPPING - SOMETHING i HAVE ADVOCATED FOR YEARS, WELL SINCE I WAS 35. I TRY TO TELL MY GROGGY-LOOKING FRIENDS THEY NEED TO NAP & ALL I GET IS SNAP-
BACK "i CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT IF I NAP" which i know is not true in my case.
Any news on initiatives by the government to allow workers a "napping zone" during the day? i'd LOVE to take a 30 minute snooze, but don't quite know how to break it to management... :)