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Naps: Endangered species in modern life?

TheStar.com - The modern world killed off the nap

What a bouquet of coincidence.

My Make column on napping is overdue, and yet right before dashing off to steal a rejuvenating 20-minute nap, I take a spin past del.icio.us/popular to find this little gem:

A good nap is one of life's great pleasures, and the ability to nap is the sign of a well-balanced life. When we nap we snatch back control of our day from a mechanized, clock-driven society. We set aside the urgency imposed on us by the external world and get in touch with an internal rhythm that is millions of years old.

A nap distils the sweetness of a whole night's sleep down to a few minutes. Ideally, it starts on a soft bed, in a dark room, with a warm blanket. At first your mind lingers on what you've done that day, and what you still need to do. Then your thoughts start to unravel a little, become less coherent, more dreamlike. You feel your breathing deepen, your body relax. You lose yourself; you're asleep. After a few minutes you gradually become aware again of the bed, the room. You open your eyes, gather your thoughts, throw off the blankets. You're a new person.

So nicely put. And, with that, Pzizz and I will say night night for now.

Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time » Blog Archi's picture

[...] I just read an...

[...] I just read an interesting NPR article (via Jumping Monkeys) about kids energy levels and their sluggish parents. I admit I need my coffee in the morning or I am out of sorts, sluggish, and generally grumpy. But Bella and Gilli are almost always awake before I am, playing happily (if a little noisily) in their room. It’s funny though, that the article seems to use an 18 year old as the example of energy. I don’t remember if I had boundless energy as a little child, but I know I had already started to slow down by the time I was 18. Sleep, sleep, and more sleep. Mmmm, sleep. The one thing I can never seem to get enough of. By the time the week is over I am exhausted, but the girls are still going strong. Maybe it’s because they get to take naps during the day? Although that’s pretty much only Gill, as Bella misses naps during the week since she goes to school and tends to ignore them on the weekend. I miss naps, but Bella doesn’t seem to. ^_^ [...]

 
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