Wellness :
SLEEP & NAPS
We are all getting over tired!
Adults today sleep 70 minutes a day less than their grandparents did and our children sleep 90 minutes a day less than their counterparts 100 years ago.
Lack of sleep harms our immune systems, mood, digestion and nervous systems. It can cause migraines, allergies, anxieties and food intolerances. It makes us accident prone.
So why have we got ourselves into this situation? Well it’s all part of the work-hard-spend-hard post Industrial Revolution Protestant ethic.
Now that workaholic American and Northern European culture is synonymous with “business culture” other nations are catching the anti-napping bug.
In China, the traditional practice of xiu-xi (napping) is reportedly under threat from managers who fear that their hugely productive and hardworking employees will be viewed as lazy by western visitors. How sad.
For us napping is something to be savoured not squeezed in between meetings because our bosses think we’ll become sharper negotiators.
We are pretty sure that if there is a heaven, then napping will be commonplace there just as it is amongst paradise-like tropical island cultures. Boffins have confirmed that if we are left alone (i.e. allowed to sleep when we want), within a week or two most of us adopt a sleep pattern of 7-9 hours night time sleep plus an early afternoon nap. Napping is in-built into our bodies’ rhythms.
A refreshing and revitalizing 40 winks is an ideal way to divide the day up – it’s a perfect bit of “me time”: our families, bosses, customers and other responsibilities can wait a while. Napping is liberating. And napping is counter-culture to the rat race…it is Freedom Bus!
Napping also means we can party and merry make longer into the night – how cool is that! And I’ve not even mentioned the post love-making nap…
So what are my napping tips?
- Adopt a positive mindset toward napping – banish guilt or shame! If it helps, remember that the research is unequivocal (NASA study suggests a 34% improvement in performance and a 54% improvement in alertness amongst nappers! Athens University study showed a third drop in heart attack risk for nappers! Founders of all the world’s major religions were nappers or pro-napping! You will have less sick days and be a better problem solver!)
- Avoid naps before 11am or after 8pm. The best time is typically early afternoon, say between 2pm and 5 pm.
3. It is quality and not necessarily quantity that counts: our bodies become drowsy every 90 minutes or so quite naturally, we begin to yawn, our eyelids get heavy etc. It is at the beginning of one of these “windows of napping opportunity” that we should begin our nap if possible, and a nap taken then need only last 5-10 minutes to be of significant benefit. Optimum nap time seems to be around
30 minutes of sleeping – though it is personal and you may prefer more.
4. Make it regular – if you can’t manage every day go for 3 days a week. Try and have your nap around the same time each day.
5. Create a little napping routine – switch off the phone, read a particular text, practice a visualisation or meditation etc to get you in the mood for napping-time.
6. Wake up slowly – don’t jump up and immediately crack on with the daily grind after a nap. Ease yourself back in gently: lay in your bed awake for a couple of minutes, splash water on your face, brush your teeth or have a cup of tea.
7. It can take a week or two to “get into it” so persevere – it will become a delicious and health giving habit eventually.
All this writing about napping has me yawning … time for a snooze. Sweet dreams!
Written by Ian Chamberlain FROM FREEDOM BUS
http://thefreedombus.com/