More Sleep Improves Athletic Performance United Press International U.S. researchers find extra sleep over an extended period of time improves athletic performance.
Early Bird Gets the Worm, Night Owl Gets no Sex MSNBC They say opposites attract — but what if your and your partner's body clocks are like night and day? Here, advice on how to find a sleep schedule you both can live with.
When a Nap at Work Is a Good Thing United Press International Canadian researchers suggest organizational barriers keeping night-shift nurses from taking restorative naps are hurting both nurses and patients.
June 22, 2008
I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.
In the meantime, here's a little something that I found for you to read with your morning coffee.
See you on Monday.
J. Peterman
From the Boston Globe:
For years, naps have gotten a bad rap, derided as a sign of laziness, weakness, or senility. We are "caught" napping or found "asleep at the switch."
But lately, napping has garnered new respect, thanks to solid scientific evidence that midday dozings benefit both mental acuity and overall health. A slew of new studies have shown that naps boost alertness, creativity, mood, and productivity in the later hours of the day.
A nap of 60 minutes improves alertness for up to 10 hours. Research on pilots shows that a 26-minute "NASA" nap in flight (while the plane is manned by a copilot) enhanced performance by 34 percent and overall alertness by 54 percent. One Harvard study published this year showed that a 45-minute nap improves learning and memory.
The body benefits, too. Napping reduces stress and lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke, diabetes, and excessive weight gain. Naps make you smarter, healthier, safer. But to understand how you can nap best -- when, for how long, to what end -- you need to understand your body.
Disturbed Rest, Activity Linked to Mortality in Older Men EurekAlert It appears that disrupted rest and activity rhythms are associated with increased mortality rates among older men, according to new University of Minnesota research.
Normal Sleep Linked to Successful Aging EurekAlert A research abstract that will be presented at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds a link between normal sleep and healthy aging.
Naps vs. Caffeine vs. More Night Sleep Boing Boing What's the best way to beat afternoon sleepiness? (drumroll) Go to sleep!
The hard part about napping is that, by the time you've managed to fall asleep, it's time to wake up. Very frustrating!
"Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one. But Englishmen detest a siesta." -- Sir Noel Coward
Zzzzzz...Zzzzzzz....Zzzzzz.....Zzzzzz........
My concept of a good night's sleep is someone else's "power nap".
And thinking of Noel Coward, he also said in that same song that only "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun". Today, I ran an 8 mile race some time after the Mid-Day sun. I can't help it, I guess I'm still an Englishman at heart!
Now I'm going to get my "power nap"....see y'all in a couple of hours!
No trouble with the idea of "la sieste" in my neck of the woods! Especially as the summer heat is on. You can only do so much in the hot part of the day, if you are out in it.
Speaking of which: farewell for now, friends - we are off to Corsica for a couple of weeks. Gros bisous!
It's humorous. As children, naps meant we had not yet reached "adulthood"...
As an adult, a nap symbolizes my ability to be a child and take a little snooze... especially with a good thunder storm about.
I'm fortunate in that I can close my eyes and be asleep in a minute or two, anyplace and in any position. It's a useful skill acquired during my internship and residency. These days, flights are my favorite place to nap. I haven't been awake for a takeoff in years.