Sleep makes you healthy, not empty words. Even a short nap can repair and “recharge” the body. Unfortunately, more and more people are giving up nap for various reasons.
nap becomes “no sleep”
In March 2013, zero, a domestic research institution, launched a “China sleep index report”, which investigated the nap time of people in 20 cities across the country. According to the report, only 29% of young people and 27.7% of middle-aged people in China have the habit of taking a nap. According to data from Pew, an American Research Institute, 34% of American adults maintain the habit of taking a nap every day.
In the past two years, the problem of siesta has not only not been well solved, but also showed an increasing trend. Not long ago, the media in Foshan, Guangdong reported that a local school was going to cancel its lunch break in the new semester. After visiting many primary schools, the reporter also found that many children could only lie on their desks after lunch and curl up and sleep; Teachers also have to sacrifice their nap and stay in the classroom to look after the students.
For more office workers, lying on the desk to “squint” has become a synonym for siesta. Even such “siesta” is a luxury for many people. They are busy with their work, running around, and occasionally have time, but they do not have the conditions to lie down and sleep. Some people even jokingly say that the so-called siesta is “no sleep” for themselves.
to sleep well is to repair the body.
The benefits of sleep to the body are self-evident. Shi Ming, deputy director and chief physician of Shanghai TCM insomnia Medical Cooperation Center, pointed out that this is not only reflected in deep sleep at night, but also the same effect can be achieved by taking a nap within half an hour.
Repair brain nerves, improve strain and memory. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin found that sleeping can promote the repair of brain cells. The study has been published in the Journal of neuroscience. In addition, in 2014, a study included in the website of the public library of science of the United States showed that sleep at night and during the day can also help people consolidate their memory and remember two unrelated words. This shows that siesta also has the function of letting people’s brain rest and recover, improving people’s memory, and helping people remember complex concepts. Sarah Mednick of the University of California and colleagues, the author of “take a nap! Change your life”, published a study in 2008. According to the study, daytime naps generally improve memory ability, while caffeine intake does not help memory, or even worse.
Promote tear secretion and effectively “nourish” eyes. When you sleep with your eyes closed, the ciliary muscles of your eyes, which have been tired all morning, can rest, effectively preventing the decline of your vision. Not only that, the lacrimal gland, which is in a suppressed state during the day, also began to secrete a large amount of tears, moistening the dry eyeballs caused by working for a long time; The temperature of the cornea will rise, and the cell metabolism will accelerate. Shi Ming reminds that if you can’t guarantee a nap every day, a little rest with your eyes closed can also play a certain role.
Repair the body’s immune function and strengthen the constitution. Professor berry Dabi, an immunologist at the University of Florida in the United States, led a research group to carry out a series of studies on the relationship between sleep, hypnosis and human immunity. The results showed that the levels of T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes in the blood of individual patients with sleep disorders were significantly increased after hypnotic intervention. The immune system can be repaired to some extent during sleep, and in turn plays a regulatory role in sleep. Sleep experts from the German psychiatric institute found that 1:00 p.m. is an obvious peak of sleep in the daytime. A short sleep at this time can effectively stimulate lymphocytes in the body and enhance the activity of immune cells.
Promote cell renewal and repair skin. Skin metabolism is most vigorous in sleep. Because when you fall asleep, the consumption of muscles, internal organs and so on is reduced, the blood vessels of the skin are fully opened, and the blood can fully reach the skin to provide nutrition, self repair and cell renewal. Shi Ming said that this is also one of the reasons why the whole person looks refreshed after a high-quality afternoon nap.
Repair oxidative damage and delay aging. An article published on the US website nature pointed out that another possible function of sleep is to resist oxidation and provide repair for oxidative damage of the body. Experiments have proved that sleep deprived animals will show more obvious oxidative damage. This may be because during sleep, many proteins begin to synthesize, including some proteins required for antioxidation. Siesta helps to supplement the lack of sleep at night and plays a certain role in promoting repair.
naps vary from person to person
In Shi Ming’s opinion, all people who don’t sleep well at night and those who have more mental activity during the day should try their best to ensure the habit of taking a nap. The most ideal way to take a nap is to take a walk for half an hour after lunch to promote the digestion of food, and then lie down to sleep for half an hour, so as not to affect the normal sleep at night. Mednick recommends taking a 20 minute nap three times a week. But in real life, everyone can make appropriate adjustments according to his own actual situation.
There is no reclining chair for bed and no neck pillow for lying down. Although more and more enterprises have begun to pay attention to the issue of employees’ lunch breaks, more units do not have the conditions to set up lunch breaks. At this time, you can consider buying a recliner, which can be expanded during nap and put away when not in use, so as not to occupy too much space. If you can’t even use the reclining chair, you should avoid sleeping on your stomach as much as possible during your lunch break. It is recommended to buy a neck pillow. When you need a lunch break, put on the neck pillow and squint against the wall and other supports for a while.
Time is tight, and 10 minutes is enough. A German study found that six minutes of sleep can improve memory. Because these few minutes are enough for the brain to transform short-term memory into long-term memory, thus freeing up more “space” for new knowledge. Mednick pointed out that even if the nap time is compressed to 10-15 minutes, it can still retain many health benefits, and this short nap is easier to wake up quickly and put into work as soon as possible.
Don’t force yourself to sleep. Closing your eyes is also a rest. Maybe sometimes you are not very sleepy. You don’t need to force yourself to fall asleep. You can close your eyes first, then concentrate on breathing and slow down your breathing rate. Mednick said, “even if we lie down for only 20 minutes and don’t sleep at all, you will recover as if you had slept.”
The choice of siesta time is closely related to the quality of siesta. Mednick’s research found that the most ideal siesta should have both slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep, and people usually take a nap 6-8 hours after getting up in the morning, because slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep can reach a balance. John Groeger, Professor of psychology at Hull University in the UK, cautioned that complex work should not be done immediately after a nap, because it takes 1-2 hours for the brain to fully recover.
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