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Take a Nap to Reduce Stress and Boost Heart and Brain Health

May 21, 2020 by Martha Minniti

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napping

When you’re feeling less than 100%, consider taking a nap to reduce your stress and boost heart and brain health.

In our sleep deprived world, it’s important to make sure you get enough rest.   Even more so now that we have a lot more stress going on.   It’s harder now more than ever for many of us to get a restful night’s sleep.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, naps can be categorized into three areas:

Category number one is called planned napping

Planned napping is where you actually plan nap into your day when you know that you’re going to be staying up past your bedtime.   A good example of this is if you’re going to be out later past your bedtime or maybe you may want to stay up and binge watch your favorite new show on Netflix

Category number two is called emergency napping

Emergency napping comes in handy when you find yourself tired and you just can’t keep working or continuing with the activity that you are involved with.   An example of a good time to take an emergency nap is if you find yourself super tired while driving or working on a project that requires a lot of concentration.

Or maybe you just find yourself in a funk and having a hard time getting out of it.

Category number three is called habitual napping.

Habitual napping is where you take a nap at the same time each day.   Many countries adopt this kind of napping as part of their culture.   Think of a siesta.  

Here, in the United States, habitual napping might be putting your child down for an afternoon nap or making a choice to include a nap as part of your daily routine.

According to a  recent study published in the BMJ journal where they measured 3462 subjects of a Swiss population based cohort with no previous history of heart disease and the found that subjects who nap once or twice per week have a lower risk of heart disease.

The good news is that according to the study, you do not need to take a daily nap to benefit your heart.

Other studies have also shown that taking a short nap works better than reaching for another cup of  caffeine when it comes to improving your motor skills, verbal memory, and perceptual learning.

As it turns out, even a small nap has its benefits, but its length will determine the benefits you’ll experience.

Here is what you can expect when you nap:

  • 20-minute nap: Will boost your mental alertness, memory, and motor learning skills.
  • 20 to 30-minute nap: Fires up your creativity and your memory
  • 30 to 60-minute nap: Improves up your decision-making skills and memory
  • 60 to 90-minute nap: The most beneficial nap type as it helps you get REM sleep. It helps you restart your brain, and enhances your problem-solving skills.

That 60-90 minute nap is one you want to build into your day if you are having trouble getting a full night’s sleep. 

How does napping help reduce stress?

For one thing it will boost your mood.  When you sleep, your brain uses this time to process your emotions And according to WebMD when you cut your sleep short you end up having more negative emotions and fewer positive ones.

Think of napping and sleep as helping you to reset the button especially when you’ve had a bad day because it helps you 2 process those emotions which will in turn improve your outlook and be better prepared tomorrow to meet any challenges that may arise.

So next time you feel out of sorts or not getting enough shut eye, consider napping.  It’s not only good your body, it’s good for your frame of mind!

Filed Under: Health, Healthy Lifestyle Tagged With: brain health, enough sleep, habitual napping, heart health, napping, planned napping, reduce stress, sleep, sleeping

How to Strengthen Your Immunity

May 7, 2020 by Martha Minniti

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immune system

A new study from researchers at the University of Bath supports the theory that keeping up regular, daily exercise plays an important role in helping you to maintain a healthy immune system.

Protecting our immune system is something we all want to take care not only during the normal flu and cold season but even more so now that we have been experiencing a global pandemic.

They reported that there is limited reliable evidence that exercise suppresses immunity, Instead they found that exercise is beneficial for your immune function.

Exercise can help your immune system find and deal with pathogens, and in the long term, regular exercise slows down changes that happen to your immune system with ageing, therefore reducing your risk of infections.

They conclude that infections are more likely to be linked to inadequate diet, psychological stress, insufficient sleep, travel and importantly, pathogen exposure at social gathering events like marathons — rather than the act of exercising itself.

Make time for fitness

Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the best ways to help manage stress and maintain your immune system.

According to the National Library of Medicine, people who engage in regular physical activity have a lower incidence of infection compared to inactive and sedentary individuals.

This supports both their research and the study from the University of bath.

What’s more, being physically active and lowering your weight helps to strengthen your immune system and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Find creative ways to get moving at home and if at all possible get out outside and take a walk.  It can be as simple as walking the stairs, jumping rope or turning on the music and dancing.

Practice Meditation

If you haven’t tried mediation, now might be a good time to start.  Studies were done where they held 20 randomized, controlled trials including more than 1,600 participants and the findings supported that meditation helped to keep immune systems functioning optimally.

Neuroscience experts, such as Dr Joe Dispenza have huge followings and international researchers who study participants in his events measuring brain wave and heart coherence to see the effects of meditation on the body.  Many of his followers/participants have reported improved health from chronic conditions after practicing his style of meditation.

Manage Your Stress Levels

Research from the past 25+ years revealed that psychological stress increases susceptibility to the common cold

Being exposed to prolonged or chronic stress can negatively impact your immune system by reducing your body’s ability to defend against viruses and bacteria.

And when we find ourselves under stress we tend to engage in coping strategies such as unhealthy eating, drinking more alcohol, smoking cigarettes, finding difficulty getting to sleep,  all of which have a negative impact on your immune system.

Stay Connected

It’s okay to acknowledge that you feel stressed, anxious and afraid.  But look for better ways to care for yourself.  Staying connected during times of stress with friends and loved ones is a good way to help yourself feel like you aren’t all alone.

Email, call or FaceTime relatives, get creative and have live-streaming virtual get togethers with your friends.

Get Your Beauty Rest

Don’t skimp on sleep. Ideally you want to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. If you find that it is hard to get your full night’s rest, be okay to fill in the deficit with a (or two) nap during the day. 

Just make sure you don’t sleep too long during the day or too late as that will disrupt your sleep cycle.  Just a short 20-30 minute nap can work wonders for your body.

Filed Under: Fitness, Health, Healthy Lifestyle Tagged With: exercise, fitness, healthy immune system, immune system, immunity, manage stress, meditation, pandemic, sleep

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