Nap naps may affect health. Middle-aged and elderly people should keep these three things in mind when taking naps. Many people sleep in the wrong way.

Aunt Gao is 52 years old this year and has been retired for two years. Before retirement, she was a "workaholic" and didn't like taking naps very much.

Now that she is retired, she pays special attention to health preservation and maintains the habit of regular physical examinations. She is also relatively healthy, but sometimes she is easily fatigued during the day . Although she does not want to admit it, she thinks that she may really be getting old.

Aunt Gao's daughter, after hearing about it, suggested that she develop the habit of taking naps to relieve fatigue, so she started taking naps a week ago, usually sleeping on the sofa for more than two hours after lunch .

But she still felt listless when she woke up , and even felt dizzy at times.

She was very puzzled: why did she still have no energy after taking a nap? Is it useless to take a nap?

In fact, this is because Aunt Gao did not take a scientific nap method. A reasonable nap is good for our health.

The effect of nap

People's need for sleep is as essential as sunlight, air, and water, and naps are a normal manifestation of the biological rhythm of normal sleep and wakefulness . People in many parts of the world have the habit of napping, especially in Mediterranean and Latin American countries , and naps are very common among middle-aged and elderly people.

In fact, scientific naps have many benefits, which are conducive to relieving fatigue , allowing people to work energetically in the afternoon, strengthening memory and improving creativity; at the same time, naps can also relieve stress and reduce the risk of disease .

Especially the elderly, the functions of various systems of the body are also reduced with age, and the physique is weakened, and they are easily fatigued like Aunt Gao. Scientific naps can relieve fatigue and restore physical strength, enhance immunity and improve resistance to diseases.

First of all, naps have a certain adjustment effect on memory .

This is related to the processing effect of the slow wave component in the afternoon nap on memory . At the same time, during a high-quality nap, the brain will better control and process information , consolidate what has been learned, and free up more space to store new information, thereby improving memory.

Second, naps can also improve study and work efficiency .

After a short nap, the tense nerves in the morning can be relaxed, the brain will work more flexible, and it is easy to open up ideas, stimulate creativity , and open up work deadlocks.

This is also the reason why many companies arrange lunch breaks and take employee seats that are convenient for lunch breaks.

This kind of nap like a "rapid physical and mental recharge" not only relieves fatigue, restores body energy, but also improves alertness and executive ability , enabling people to quickly engage in work and improve work efficiency.

Third, and scientific naps are also conducive to emotional management.

Taking a nap can effectively adjust the physical and mental state , so that people can handle affairs without excessive fatigue, and can maintain an optimistic and stable mood as well as a good stress ability to face daily activities.

In addition, as we age, naps are not a sign of "laziness, frailty, or disease" as some people think, not only that, but short naps can relieve stress, reduce disease risk , and improve people's physical and mental health.

A nap can soothe the cardiovascular system and reduce the risk of heart disease .

A study conducted by professors at the Harvard School of Public Health found that those who took at least 3 naps a week for about 30 minutes were 37% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who did not nap .

The survey shows that not napping is one of the risk factors for high blood pressure .

Taking a nap can relieve work pressure, reduce human body tension, lower systolic blood pressure , and also promote the metabolic cycle of human physiological functions and enhance human resistance. Therefore, a reasonable nap every day is beneficial to human health.

Scientific naps can also reduce the risk of people, especially the elderly, suffering from neurological diseases .

Studies have shown that people who take a lunch break of less than 30 minutes a day are 80% less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who don't nap .

In addition, naps can help the body digest and process carbohydrates better, balance hormones and metabolism in the body, and prevent premature aging.

It should be noted that although a reasonable nap has many benefits, whether to maintain the habit of nap depends on the individual situation. The essence of napping is to adjust the biological rhythm. Only take a nap when you need to take a nap. Do not force yourself to take a nap , but it is easy to generate anxiety.

Since scientific naps can be beneficial to health, what kind of naps are scientific naps? Let's find out together.

2. "Three nos" for naps

To achieve a scientific nap, pay attention to the following three misunderstandings.

1. Don’t take a nap too long

Taking a nap is not as long as possible. It is best not to exceed 1 hour . More than 1 hour will not only not lift the spirits, but will have the opposite effect, just like Aunt Gao in this case was still tired after sleeping for more than two hours.

Human sleep is divided into two stages : deep sleep and light sleep . When the nap time exceeds 1 hour, people tend to enter deep sleep, the nerve center of the brain will be inhibited, the blood supply will also be reduced, and the metabolism in the body will also slow down .

Waking up at this time is prone to headaches, nausea and other uncomfortable symptoms , and it can also lead to more sleepiness and inability to concentrate on work or study quickly, which undoubtedly increases its own anxiety.

Excessive daytime naps can also disrupt circadian rhythms , increase the risk of endocrine and metabolic imbalances , and may lead to insomnia at night, which is detrimental to physical and mental health.

In addition, naps of more than 1 hour may also increase the risk of disease . Studies have shown that people who nap for more than an hour are twice as likely to develop dementia .

At the same time, middle-aged and elderly people with an average nap time of more than 1 hour are also at high risk of developing diabetes, which may be related to the increase in the level of C-reactive protein , a risk factor affecting the occurrence of diabetes during the period . And naps longer than 1 hour also increase the risk of metabolic disorders .

So what's the best time to take a nap? The best nap time is 20-30 minutes .

A NASA study found that when the nap time is less than 30 minutes, people's energy and alertness are improved by more than 50% , and they are more guaranteed to wake up with more energy. A test on people who took a 20, 50, and 80-minute nap showed that a 20-minute nap had the best sustained effect on restoring the individual’s physical and mental state .

2. Don’t take a nap immediately after a meal

Also be careful not to take a nap immediately after a meal. Because the stomach is full of food just after eating a full meal, a large amount of blood in the gastrointestinal tract will flow to the stomach to help digest the food . Immediately falling asleep will affect the blood entering the gastrointestinal system, which is not conducive to the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients , and may also lead to gastrointestinal function. disorder.

At the same time, it is easy to lead to insufficient blood supply to the brain , especially for the elderly with cerebrovascular disease or blood circulation disorders .

In addition, taking a nap immediately after a meal is also likely to cause food reflux , causing gastric juices to stimulate the esophagus and causing discomfort , and even reflux esophagitis may occur in severe cases.

Therefore, it is best to take a nap half an hour after eating, and be careful not to overeat. After a meal, you can do some activities such as reading books and newspapers to reduce the excitement of emotional stimulation, so that it is easier to fall asleep.

3. Don’t take a nap in the wrong posture

Don't take a wrong posture for a nap . Sleeping directly on the table or "Lying Ge You" on the sofa is not the best nap posture . The correct nap posture is lying on your back .

Sitting down, sleeping on your stomach, and "Ge You lying down" will cause the body to not stretch properly and the pressure will be unevenly distributed, which will easily lead to spinal deformation or lumbar muscle strain over time . Sitting or sleeping on your stomach will also reduce the blood supply to the head, and you are prone to dizziness, vertigo and other symptoms of cerebral ischemia and hypoxia after waking up.

It is believed that many people have the experience of sleeping on their stomach and then feel numbness in their arms or feet. This is because sleeping on the stomach can easily cause multiple nerves to be squeezed . And if the eyeball is pressed, there will also be temporary blurred vision , especially for people with high myopia.

Lying on your back allows you to stretch your body as much as possible , allowing you to fall asleep with total relaxation.

Sleeping on your side is better than lying on your back and prone, especially on the right side .

This can prevent the heart from being compressed, is conducive to blood circulation, and is also conducive to the peristalsis of gastric contents to the duodenum, and promotes the digestion and absorption of food .

To sum up, we'd better take a nap half an hour after a meal, and the nap time should be controlled at 20-30 minutes , not more than 1 hour. Choose to sleep on the right side of the bed or on the sofa . To have a good nap experience, what else do we need to pay attention to? Take a look.