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At best, napping is viewed as a luxury or indulgence. At worst, it¡¯s seen as a slothful activity.
Maybe you¡¯ve also felt the pangs of guilt after awaking from a short snooze. Or judged someone else for falling asleep at their desk.
But napping doesn¡¯t make you a lazy worker, and it doesn¡¯t pillage your productivity. In fact, it¡¯s quite the opposite.
Napping actually offers a slew of benefits, which might make you reconsider your stance on midday slumbers ¡ª and add them to your routine.
¡°Napping leads to improvements in mood, alertness and performance [such as] reaction time, attention, and memory, ¡± according to Kimberly Cote, Ph.D, Professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brock University. (Her 2009 review, co-authored with researcher Catherine Milner, summarizes the research on these many benefits.)
Research at NASA demonstrated that pilots who had a 26-minute nap in the cockpit were more alert ¡ª by 54 percent ¡ª and had improved performance by 34 percent. Studies using advanced tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) also have found performance benefits for nappers. Studies have even suggested that napping may produce the same memory gains as a full night¡¯s slumber, as shown on tasks that tested declarative memory, motor memory and spatial memory.
Tips for a Truly Beneficial Nap
All naps aren¡¯t created equal. For instance, a two-hour nap may leave you feeling disoriented and groggy, and even disrupt your nighttime slumber. So what¡¯s the best nap to take?
An ideal nap is a short one. According to research, 10 to 20 minutes is best, Cote said. ¡°Longer naps will allow you to enter deeper sleep, which will contribute to the grogginess ¡ª also called sleep inertia ¡ª experienced upon awakening and disrupt nighttime sleep, ¡± she said. Napping for 10 minutes is especially helpful at work, because you get the maximum benefits with less grogginess, she said.
Such short naps primarily consist of stage 1 and stage 2 sleep. Stage 2 sleep may offer the most benefits. A 2005 study found that participants who were awakened after spending just three minutes in stage 2 sleep were alert and showed an improvement in performance. Participants awakened after five minutes in stage 1 sleep felt less tired and sleepy, but their performance deteriorated.
In their review, based on the evidence, Cote and Milner suggested that people who get enough sleep at night can nap later in the day. But people who are sleep-deprived do better with earlier naps.
In general, experts recommend sleeping between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. or between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. According to the National Sleep Foundation, also important is snoozing in a dark and quiet room with a comfortable temperature.
Take a nap wheelSleep researcher Sara Mednick, Ph.D, who calls napping her secret weapon in her book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life, created a ¡° nap wheel¡± to help people figure out their optimum naptime.
When Napping Isn¡¯t Helpful
For people struggling with insomnia ¨C who have a tough time either falling asleep or staying asleep ¨C naps may sabotage nighttime sleeping even more, Cote said, especially if their naps are longer or later in the evening.
If you are struggling with insomnia, consider finding a psychologist who specializes in treating insomnia with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). You might be surprised to learn that CBT is actually the first line of treatment for insomnia ¡ª not medication.
Rents manages the coal mine to dig buys up a reserves 1,500,000,000
ton coal mine grand wedding ceremony to the first barrel golden 80,000,000 Yuan
to cause always low key Shanxi Liulin richest family Xing Libin to hear the
world. On March 18, unites abundant group Chairman Xing Libin to hold the
large-scale wedding ceremony in Sanya for the daughter, and holds the concert,
the wedding ceremony all-in cost surpasses 70,000,000 Yuan. Coal boss luxurious
has shocked the ordinary populace once more.The investigation discovered that
Xing Libin the first barrel gold originates in rents the management the Liulin
County Jinjiazhuang township to manage the coal mine, afterward it ¡°the cabbage
price¡± obtained the locality by 80,000,000 Yuan to be biggest, reserves
1,500,000,000 ton State-owned business Liulin County to be popular the non-coal
mine the complete stockholder's rights, as soon as then leapt into the Shanxi
Liulin richest family, at present property ultra 10,000,000,000 Yuan. The sale
price 10,470,000,000 Yuan take Shanxi well-known coal boss, the Xing Libin
before this quite low key, very few makes an appearance in the media and the
public occasions. The public material demonstrated: Xing Libin, in May, 1967
lived, the Shanxi Province Liulin County kept the reputation town person. in
1990 Shanxi University law specialized graduation. 1999 sessions on-the-job
graduate students, incumbent Shanxi unites abundant energy Limited company board
of directors president, is Liulin County Political Consultative Conference
honorary vice-president, Shanxi Province Deputy to the National People's
Congress. In 2010 in new wealth rich person announcement energy and
environmental protection sub-list, Xing Libin is a first place by 10,470,000,000
Yuan sale prices, always places 60. Xing Libin presently serves under somebody's
banner subordinate, holding coal mine 15, the annual production raw coal
3,000,000 tons, washes the refined coal 1,200,000 tons. in May, 2008, serves
under somebody's banner it 3 coal mines to pour into to be listed Fushan energy,
then becomes the Fushan energy second major stockholder. Examines carefully Xing
Libin to increase the family fortunes the way, purchases Liulin to be popular
without the coal mine is without doubt its wealth ¡°the leap spot¡±.The
investigation discovered that Xing Libin contracted the ironworks start in 1990
from Chungyang, in the same year, Xing Libin rented manages the Liulin County
Jinjiazhuang township to manage the coal mine, entered the coal profession
officially. In fact, this act does not conform to the policies and regulations,
our country's legal rule mining right do not trade, the hiring. ¡°the cabbage
price¡± buys up the state-owned big coal mine after the dependence rents manages
the coal mine obtains the first barrel gold, Xing Libin take the Jinjiazhuang
coal industry Limited company as the name, the investment sells outright Liulin
to be popular without the coal mine. It is reported that Liulin was popular
without the coal mine is at that time the Liulin county-wide biggest State-owned
business ore, the annual production could amount to 600,000 tons.In order to
enhance the coal added value, was popular once planned without the coal mine
starts 900,000 ton coal washing accents to produce the project, but because the
fund question has paused on the blueprint. in 2002, the financial revenue only
had 200,000,000 Yuan Liulin County to decide that the transfer was popular
without the coal mine. Finally, Xing Libin bought Liulin by 80,000,000 Yuan
prices to be popular without the coal mine, and began to reorganize very quickly
establishes Shanxi to unite the abundant energy group, in the past delivered the
tax money 10,000,000 Yuan. The material demonstrated that Liulin is popular the
non-coal mine geological reserve 153,123,000 tons, the recoverable resources
140,212,000 tons. If according to the geological reserve computation, Xing Libin
each ton pays is only 0.52 Yuan, according to may mine the calculation of
reserves, the price which Xing Libin each ton coal pays is only 0.57 Yuan, it
may be said that ¡°cabbage price¡±. In obtains by the extremely inexpensive price
is popular after the coal mine this ¡°the profit cow¡±, Xing Libin's individual
property leap to several billions Yuan. in July, 2008,Xing Libin is popular
does not have, Jinjiazhuang, the stronghold cliff bottom 3 coal mine successes
to realize foreign going on the market, it also obtains 10,000,000,000 Yuan
cashes as well as the stockholder's rights. in September, 2009, unites the
abundant group and the China nat'l resources electric power cooperation,
successively in county purchase mine pit 39 pairs and so on Chungyang, junction
mouth, Shilou, Xing County, Lin County, fidelity, after the conformity, forms 13
pair of main body mine pits.
When
I was a young boy, I was always fascinated by fire fighters and
paramedics. Every time I would see a fire engine whiz by or an
ambulance speed past me, I would run into the house and turn on the
radio, hoping to catch some news of their exploits whether in putting
out fires or saving lives. For me, these brave people were the
perfect epitome of the term, “heroes.”
When
I attended secondary school, sometime in my year 10, a paramedic came
and gave a short talk about having a future career in the paramedics
or ambulance service. I can never recall the name of the bloke who
gave the talk but, what I can never forget are the details he
lectured about the ambulance service and saving the lives of people
in need and in trouble.
After
graduating from secondary and doing year 12, I decided to enter the
ambulance service as a paramedic. At first, I enquired from some
paramedic recruitment offices about the requirements and the
training. Next, I did some research on the net. Mind you, I was
starting to have doubts if I could even make the first stage of the
recruitment, let alone the whole training. I started to doubt if I
could pursue my dreams of becoming a paramedic.
Then,
a friend of mine told me abouthowtobecomeaparamedic.co.uk.
I
had nothing to lose so I took a gander at the site. What I saw was at
first unbelievable that I told myself, “why didn't I see this site
before?”
With
their advice, and tips, I was able to prepare myself for the
challenges of the recruitment process. Also, by knowing that I am
armed with insider information, I was able to focused on passing
every stage of the recruitment and used my learning to gain a step
ahead of other candidates and impress the recruitment staff by
showing confidence, preparedness and determination in becoming a
paramedic in the UK.
I
cannot say everything went smooth. I almost breakdown during the role
play. Luckily, I managed to compose myself and focused on the task at
hand. Now, I am on my way to passing the last phase of the
recruitment. Since I passed the other phases of the paramedic
recruitment process, I am confident that I will be able to highlight
my core competence during the final interview.
One
step left and I will be able to help people. One step more and I
finally be able to get my chance to give something back to the
community. One final step and it is my turn to become a “hero.”
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