The Benefits of an Adult taking a Mid-day Power Nap

It happens to everyone occasionally: that often ill-timed little head bob as you catch yourself nodding off to sleep. Daytime drowsiness is your body’s way of signaling that you haven’t had enough sleep. When you’re sleepy, you feel sluggish and your thought processes and reaction times slow. You also tend to be more irritable when you’re tired. Enter the power nap – a short daytime nap that refreshes your body and brain and relieves some of the unpleasant after-effects of too little sleep. 

Sharper Thinking

Your brain is heavily dependent on getting enough sleep, and it’s the first of your body organs to malfunction when you don’t. When you’re sleepy, you tend to:

• be forgetful
• lack creativity
• daydream or lose focus
• make errors in judgment
• have difficulty performing complicated tasks

NASA-sponsored research conducted by doctors at the University of Pennsylvania found short naps lead to clearer thinking and improvement in all of these areas for subjects with sleep restricted schedules. Several large companies have taken notice of the performance benefits of so-called NASA naps and offer sleeping rooms so their employees can take a short snooze during the workday.

Better Mood

Your family, friends and co-workers might know when you haven’t gotten enough sleep without you telling them. Even one bad night’s sleep can leave you feeling unusually anxious, irritable, short-tempered and down in the dumps. These negative effects on your mood can add to your already foggy thinking and might make you even less productive.

Napping has a positive effect on your mood when you’re sleep-deprived. And because of how your brain is wired, when you feel better, you do better. Benefits of napping on mood include:

• more energy and motivation
• improved ability to cope with everyday stresses and irritations
• a more positive outlook and attitude.

Getting the Most Out of a Nap

As with so many things in life, timing is everything when it comes to a great adult nap. Early afternoon is usually the best time of day for a nap. There is a natural lull in your body’s daily rhythm from about 1 to 3 p.m., which can make it an optimal time for a short daytime snooze. Napping during the evening is generally not a good idea because it could interfere with your nighttime sleep.

How long you sleep is also important in terms of getting the most benefit from a nap. To avoid feeling groggy when you wake up, limit your nap to less than an hour. However, you don’t need to sleep a full hour to reap the benefits of a nap on your mood and thinking. A nap as short as 20 to 30 minutes will do the trick. In fact, even a 10-minute nap can help counter sluggish thinking.

When to See Your Doctor

While short power naps are a healthy and effective way to deal with occasional daytime sleepiness, it’s important to see your doctor if you’re sleepy most days. Many medical and mental health conditions can cause ongoing daytime sleepiness, which increases your risk for accidents and some serious health problems. It’s important to find out what’s interfering with you sleep so you can get back to consistently enjoying a good night’s sleep and feeling healthy and vibrant during the day.

References & Resources

1. Clinical Neurophysiology of Sleep Disorders; Christian Guilleminault, M.D.
2. Seminars in Neurology: Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation
3. Acta Astronautica: Optimizing Sleep/Wake Schedules in Space: Sleep During Chronic Nocturnal Sleep Restriction With and Without Diurnal Naps
4. Sleep.org: Sleeping at Work — Companies With Nap Rooms and Snooze-Friendly Policies
5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA Naps
6. Journal of Sleep Research: Benefits of Napping in Healthy Adults: Impact of Nap Length, Time of Day, Age, and Experience With Napping
7. Why We Nap: Evolution, Chronobiology, and Functions of Polyphasic and Ultrashort Sleep; Claudio Stampi, M.D., Ph.D.
8. National Sleep Foundation: Sleep Drive and Your Body Clock
9. Journal of Thoracic Disease: Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Sleep Disorders
10. Journal of Psychiatric Research: Determining the Level of Sleepiness in the American Population and Its Correlates

SOURCE

The science of sleep: How many hours do you need?

Why is sleep so important?

Most of us agree that we don’t get enough of it. But that dragging, heavy-lidded feeling isn’t the only bad result of sleep deprivation – lack of sleep can lead to serious health risks. Short sleep duration is linked with overeating, diabetes and heart problems, depression and substance abuse, and an increased risk of nodding off at the wheel. (Drivers, take note: the CDC cites tiredness as a factor in up to 5,000 fatalities each year.)

 

What can sleep do for me?

Not only do healthy sleeping habits help reduce risk for sleep-related accidents and certain health conditions, there are also these upshots:

• Lower stress and an improved mood
• Increased ability to support a healthy weight
• Improved physical abilities
• Enhanced focus and memory capacity
• Sufficient shuteye offers a number of health benefits like these, says the National Sleep Foundation.

 

How many hours are enough?

Different people need different amounts of sleep. One factor is age: adults generally find 7–8 hours adequate, while active school-age children can require as many as 11 hours. The quality of sleep also affects the quantity you need. Older adults, who often sleep for shorter spans, or those with frequently interrupted sleep won’t feel as rested. And some research has also linked sleeping too much to higher risk for illness, accidents and mortality.

 

So the question is how to find the right number for you.

 

Get on track for better sleep.

The key to a good night’s rest? Consistency – and a plan. The National Sleep Foundation outlines a strategy that includes setting a sleep and wake schedule and a regular bedtime routine. (Permission to pamper yourself: a comfortable room, relaxing hot bath and soothing music have all been shown to lead to better shuteye.)

 

To establish your personal sleep schedule, try recording sleep for even just a week to help identify your circadian rhythm, or body clock. If you find yourself waking up within 10 minutes of your target wake time without the use of an alarm, that’s a good sign you’re on track to healthy sleep.

 

TIP: Technology can help: for example, fitness devices are widely available that offer a window into things like your daily sleep quality and hours. 

 

 

Less Sleep Leads to More Health Problems...

Despite knowing that sleep is important for optimal health, many will shave down their shut-eye to make time for other things. Sleep-deprived individuals, beware: Even modest reductions in sleep can have detrimental effects.

In a recent study, researchers wanted to learn what would happen when the body was subjected to repeated bouts of modest sleep reduction. To do this, they recruited 19 healthy young men who either cut sleep time by 1.5 hours or maintained regular sleep patterns for 3 weeks.

Throughout the intervention, all participants underwent tests to measure insulin sensitivity, vascular function, and levels of leptin (a hormone that regulates energy intake and expenditure) and adopinectin (a protein that plays a role in the development of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis).

How did the sleep-restricted group fare?

“Sleep restriction led to changes in insulin sensitivity, body weight and plasma concentrations of leptin, which varied during the three week period,” the study authors reported. “There was no effect on plasma adiponectin or vascular function.”

They added, “Even minor reductions in sleep duration led to changes in insulin sensitivity, body weight and other metabolic parameters . . . during the exposure period.” The study was published in Metabolism—Clinical and Experimental (2013; 62 [2], 204–11).

Want to improve your sleep quality? Implement these tips from Craig Weller, a coach for Scrawny To Brawny, an online workout and nutrition program for guys:

1. Ditch the cell phone. Radiation emitted from cell phones can lengthen the time it takes to reach deep sleep cycles and shorten the time spent in those cycles. If you’re using your cell phone as an alarm clock, stop. Replace it with a battery-powered clock. Either turn off your phone or plug it in somewhere other than your bedroom to charge overnight. You’ll get the added benefit of not being distracted by the buzz of an incoming text or email.
2. Read for 15 minutes before bed. Avoid intellectually stimulating fare and use this time for “candy” reading. It will reduce mental chatter and allow you to relax and let go of the day’s preoccupations. “Candy” reading differs from your usual reading. If you normally read nonfiction, try reading fiction; if you prefer fiction, try some history.
3. Improve the cortisol awakening response. A good way to improve sleep quality is to strengthen the initial spike in wakefulness that occurs in the morning. The more awake you feel in the morning, the more tired you’ll feel in the evening. How do you do this? Expose your body to natural sunlight for as little as 10 minutes shortly after waking. Sunlight adds the bonus of boosting vitamin D production, which is important for overall health. If exposure to natural sunlight is unrealistic or you’re up before the sun, try using artificially simulated sunlight. There are lots of lights and alarm clocks that provide.

SOURCE: IDEA 

7 TIPS on what you can do today to get that beach body you've always wanted

Here are SEVEN sizzling hot tips to help you raise your metabolism through the roof, so you'll be lean and sexy and looking great naked before strutting your stuff out on the beach:

1. Supplement your diet with krill oil, whey protein, and a greens booster
This is the magic combination to stoke your metabolic fire. Krill oil helps increase your fat burning powers, whey protein builds lean, sexy muscle, and the greens supplement will keep everything nice and balanced.

2. Train with resistance                                                                                 
Training for strength, either with weights or your own body weight is one of the absolute best ways to transform your body. Lean muscle is what gives your body that sexy shape. Plus, muscle tissue raises your metabolism so that you will burn fat even while you're asleep!

3. Use intervals                                                                                              
Traditional cardiovascular training has been shown to be ineffective for fat loss. Much better is to train with intervals. Intervals are simply periods of higher intensity activity alternated with lower intensity periods. For instance, if you use a spin bike, an interval workout could be 30 seconds pedaling as hard as you can mixed with 30 seconds of easy spinning.


4. Eat breakfast every day                                                                              
Having a nutritious breakfast each and every day is one of the very first things my fat loss clients focus on. It is THAT important for fat loss. Breakfast is your chance to get your day going right, make the most of it.

5. Make sure at least a third of your calories come from fat                         
It might sound strange, but you can't lose fat unless you eat fat. Your body won't release its fat stores until it is sure it will have enough fuel coming in. As a bonus, healthy fats will keep your skin supple, smooth, and glowing. THAT sure helps you look great naked!

6. Hire an expert                                                                                            
Fitness professionals are experts at blasting fat off of their clients as fast as possible. Whatever your situation, they've seen it before and can help you overcome all of your obstacles to success.

7. Get plenty of sleep                                                                                    
A full night's sleep every night will fast-track you on your path of looking great naked! Your body produces fat burning hormones while you sleep, especially if you've been following the 6 previous tips mentioned in this posting.

Get started today and be lean and sexy this summer!