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Are Naps Good for You?

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#51

Post by simple10 »

JW_00000 wrote: post #48
simple10 wrote: post #16

Rather than naps, I can personally recommend yoga nidra, AKA non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) meditation. There's no effort involved. You just lie down and listen to an audio track. Lots of tracks available on YouTube and Spotify. With yoga nidra, you stay awake and get just as recharged from a good nap but without the risk of waking up groggy. It's a game changer. If you're interested in the science behind it, Andrew Hube…

Not saying you're wrong, but isn't it strange to respond to an article that attempts to answer a question by summarizing several scientific studies, with something akin to "ignore that, do this instead"?

Good point. I didn't provide context in my comment. Just trying to be helpful. The studies in the article show naps improve several factors like alertness. Anecdotally, many people either have a hard time falling asleep mid day or fall asleep for too long and wake up groggy. Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) has the same benefits of napping without the downsides. I believe there are studies on it, but I don't have references handy. Just speaking from personal experience.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#52

Post by shard »

huijzer wrote: post #8
politelemon wrote: post #2

Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what it needs. Drink when you're thirsty and nap when you're drowsy. The problem we find, which elicits articles like this, is that our 'work environment' is not conducive to adhoc relaxation.

Counterexamples: body tells you to eat more when stressed or depressed. A bit of stress is healthy for the body. Your body doesn’t really tell you to go to the gym.

Working out give me a mood boost. I've found that if I skip workouts for a couple of months, I'm more prone to depressive moods, which is an alarm to get my ass back to the gym.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#53

Post by pc86 »

unmole wrote: post #3
politelemon wrote: post #2

Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what it needs. Drink when you're thirsty and nap when you're drowsy. The problem we find, which elicits articles like this, is that our 'work environment' is not conducive to adhoc relaxation.

~75% of adults in the US are overweight. ~20% have a sleep disorder.

What point are you trying to make?

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#54

Post by pc86 »

pablasso wrote: post #49
FacZap wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the same guy who "heard from a cardiologist buddy" of his that 'no amount of exercise offsets the damage of sitting for 6-7 hours a days' (absolute bullshit icydk).

you’re mocking his weak references but you’re not offering one yourself

I think it's completely fine to be extremely skeptical of, and yes even outright mock, the idea that sitting for 6 hours a day does permanent, irreparable damage to the body until proven otherwise. It's also probably fine to be skeptical-bordering-on-mocking of people who use sources that sound authoritative to push something controversial. It's really hard to become a cardiologist. They know a great deal about a lot of things, but you know what they typically don't know anything about? Exercise. They're not physical therapists, they're not exercise physiologists, they don't have PhDs in kinesiology.

Sitting is bad for you, sure. But some random guy's random cardiologist friend likely knows less about exercise science than a $50/hr personal trainer at your local Gold's.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#55

Post by xboxnolifes »

unmole wrote: post #3
politelemon wrote: post #2

Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what it needs. Drink when you're thirsty and nap when you're drowsy. The problem we find, which elicits articles like this, is that our 'work environment' is not conducive to adhoc relaxation.

~75% of adults in the US are overweight. ~20% have a sleep disorder.

I wonder what the numbers would look like if nobody had to work. That's the comparison.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#56

Post by wnolens »

simple10 wrote: post #22
wnolens wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With yoga nidra, you stay awake Huh I precisely use yoga nidra TO help me fall asleep. It's so powerful as a sleep aid that I resurrected an old iPod to hold a single yoga nidra track and I keep it plugged into a speaker on my nightstand. Of the maybe 200+ listens in the past few years I've heard the end of of this 20min track less than 10 times!

Nice! And good point. It works for both sleep and non-sleep power "nap." There are different scripts for sleep vs mid-day rest. The main difference seems to be whether or not you set the intention to stay awake or fall asleep at the start of it.

Interesting, I shall try this for rest as I hate naps - they leave me miserable.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#57

Post by wnolens »

viesauvage wrote: post #25
simple10 wrote: post #16

Rather than naps, I can personally recommend yoga nidra, AKA non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) meditation. There's no effort involved. You just lie down and listen to an audio track. Lots of tracks available on YouTube and Spotify. With yoga nidra, you stay awake and get just as recharged from a good nap but without the risk of waking up groggy. It's a game changer. If you're interested in the science behind it, Andrew Hube…

Why you need to follow specific techniques just to relax? They sound like more work and skill obsession. You know, you can just lay low and relax...

Like how the simple recipe for happiness is "stop being sad"

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#58

Post by jonahbenton »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #31
jonahbenton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am an old man and have learned some things about myself. I was an athlete when younger and am quite good at listening to what my various parts say when it comes to injuries or various kinds of use. Others in my age group like my wife who spent less time doing athletic work when younger are lacking this signal and get injured more often. However I also worked quite a lot when younger and do not at all hear my body s…

Did your body say it was tired or thirsty when you were young?

Rarely. I routinely worked through the night, usually drinking dehydrating light caffeine drinks like tea. I wouldn't get the tired signal until sometime the next day or day after. And a few times I was so dehydrated I had mini-migraines. It was just a groove and I went with it, for hours, hundreds/thousands of times.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#59

Post by senectus1 »

huijzer wrote: post #8
politelemon wrote: post #2

Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what it needs. Drink when you're thirsty and nap when you're drowsy. The problem we find, which elicits articles like this, is that our 'work environment' is not conducive to adhoc relaxation.

Counterexamples: body tells you to eat more when stressed or depressed. A bit of stress is healthy for the body. Your body doesn’t really tell you to go to the gym.

yes an I personally find that tiredness and ability to handle stress is directly correlated to amount of sleep I'm getting.

In winter I tend to stay up later at night, I get less sleep and I eat very poorly. I always put on weight and get cranky in winter.

Re: Are Naps Good for You?

#60

Post by dev_hugepages »

simple10 wrote: post #16

Rather than naps, I can personally recommend yoga nidra, AKA non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) meditation. There's no effort involved. You just lie down and listen to an audio track. Lots of tracks available on YouTube and Spotify. With yoga nidra, you stay awake and get just as recharged from a good nap but without the risk of waking up groggy. It's a game changer. If you're interested in the science behind it, Andrew Hube…

About yoga nidra : wikipedia tells us about a n=1 study[0] that found NREM sleep waves during yoga nidra, it seems that if this generalize, it would be equivalent to taking a nap [0]: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.016
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