Not all naps are created equal. Some naps have been shown to rejuvenate where others boost creativity. What's more, when you nap can be as important as how you nap. Here's how to nap like a professional, nap-taking machine. Here's how to nap like you MEAN IT.
Sleep deprivation takes a sharp toll on the human brain and body, impairing cognition, motor ability, and mood. Willpower, memory, judgement, and attention all suffer. You drop and bump into things, crave sugar, overeat, and gain weight. You're more irritable, more anxious, overly negative, and more emotionally reactive.
Dr Guy Meadows is a specialist in chronic insomnia and clinical director of The Sleep School, London Dr Guy Meadows is a specialist in chronic insomnia and clinical director of The Sleep School, London Derk-Jan Dijk is professor of sleep and physiology at Surrey's Sleep Research Centre Gillian Twigg is principal clinical scientist at the sleep centre at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Dr Guy Leschziner is a consultant neurologist at the sleep disorder centre, Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals, London Guy Meadows A lot of the symptoms associated with a hangover are a product of sleep deprivation.
It is important to leave at least a couple of hours between eating and sleeping.
There is a whole raft of so-called sleepy foods – anything containing tryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, magnesium, calcium, potassium – often eaten in the hope they will aid sleep.
If you do want to eat these foods, do it because it’s a nice ritual, not because you need it to sleep.
People who sleepwalk usually are advised to keep their room safe by locking windows and doors, and to maintain what’s called good sleep hygiene: keep to a regular sleep routine, turn mobile phones off, avoid stimulants, and so on. Sleepwalking can often occur as a result of poor or disrupted sleep.