Happy National Napping Day

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Still trying to catch up on that hour you lost to Daylight Savings Time?

If so, today’s your day! That’s right…a day set aside just for napping.

Sleep is an important part of a healthy routine that includes naps, if your schedule permits.

The ideal length of a nap is considered to be 20 minutes and no longer than 30. This ensures we’ll wake up feeling refreshed. Longer naps allow us to enter a deeper state of sleep, which is harder to awaken from. However, there are circumstances when longer naps might be warranted.  

The other components of a healthy routine are diet and exercise. Making even small changes in these areas helps us look and feel better. We don’t have to run a marathon or give up our favorite foods altogether. It’s all about moderation:

  • Cutting back on carbs & sugars
  • Eating more veggies & whole grains 
  • Incorporating some form of daily exercise
  • Striving for 8 hours of sleep each night

We’re human and that means we won’t get it perfectly right every day. But, if we do better most days it will pay off over time.

If you’re interested there’s some fun facts about this “holiday” and the importance of sleep, available at nationaltoday.com.

Happy Napping!


Sources:

medicalnewstoday.com

nationaltoday.com

Items of Interest

I started this Items of Interest post because I wanted to share interesting stories I found on the web, as well as feature a regular post that followed a specific theme. I only did it a couple of times and then quit. It takes some time to put it together and I felt my time would be better spent writing about me and my life (I hope that doesn’t seem as conceited as it sounds!)

Then I got my year in review statistics from WordPress and found that my most popular post was an Items of Interest piece. So, I’m going to continue it for awhile and see what happens. I will pay more attention to the Stats information as I go along. This was my first year blogging and there’s so much to learn! 

Regarding Items of Interest, I want to stay away from the bad news stories that tend to make up so much of what we read. I use Pocket to save the stories that I think are infomative, funny, unique, etc. and put about 5 -6 of these into one post. If I have any thoughts or opinions on the individual story I’ll include those as well and always welcome your feedback!

Here are some items I put together for this week:

 

Even though Christmas is over, I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this adorable and creative story from Allen Lawrence over at The Dad Blog:

Elf on the Shelf

Dad Turns Baby Into “Elf On the Shelf”

 

A new year is always a great time to clear our and organize cupboards, closets, and iPhone photos – article from MSN.com:

iPhone Photos

How To Clean Up Your Messy iPhone Photo Library

While you’re busy clearing out the clutter for the new year, be sure to clear out the negativity and focus on ways to bring more positivity to your life – article from The Muse:

positivity

57 Small Changes to Improve Your Life

 

 

While we love and depend our electronic devices, here’s a danger I wasn’t aware of – article from The New York Times and photo by Tim Lahan:

iHunch

Fighting the iHunch

I lost my Dad to dementia in March of 2015 and as a Baby Boomer with a possible predisposition to Alzheimers, I’m interested in hearing about the latest research – story from NPR’s Morning Edition:

Brain scan Alzheimers

Lack of Deep Sleep May Set the Stage for Alzheimers

When considering a bedtime snack consider these foods that promote better quality sleep – from Cleveland Clinic:

Sleeping

Five Foods That Help You Sleep

 

 

 Thanks for stopping by…Enjoy your weekend