Guest comment by Marvin

Research has been shown that person’s physical health can be affected with bad sleep. The amount of sleep one can get also influence one’s decision making. According to the study published in the March 1st issue of the journal SLEEP, sleep deprivation impairs the ability to integrate emotion and cognition to guide moral judgements.

The study was conducted by William D.S. Killgore, PhD, and the colleagues at the Walter Reed Army Institute of research. It was focused on 26 healthy adults who made judgements about the appropriateness of various courses of action in response to three types of moral dilemmas on two separate occasions: at rested baseline and again following 53 hours of continuous wakefulness.

Good Night Sleep

Lack of sleep can result in stress, lack of concentration, moodiness, memory loss, lower motivation and fatigue. It is important to get a good night sleep otherwise it may lead to different sleep disorders. More than eighty percent of people suffering from depression are suffering with sleep problems.

At present, one of the most common problems is Sleep deprivation. In fact the Better Sleep Council surveyed a thousand adult respondents and discovered that more than 30% of them confessed to not getting enough sleep each night.

Here are 101 ways to get good night sleep for those who experience difficulty in getting sleep. 

http://www.sleepdisordersguide.com/blog/good-night-sleep-101-ways/

Napping may be the answer

Are you feeling tired and run-down in the middle of the afternoon? Is your energy level dropping like a rock into a lake? Coffee is NOT the answer, but taking a nap might just be the ticket. Cats take naps all the time. They seem to be perfectly healthy. Of course, I have never been able to actually communicate with any of my cats to see if they feel rested after a nap. :-)

You may be victimizing yourself by not getting enough sleep at night. Maybe you feel you just don't have the time to sleep 8-10 hours a night. You have just got so much to do. Or maybe you are like me, and are so excited about whatever you are doing that time just seems to fade out, and suddenly it is several hours later--perhaps 3 am in the morning. Ooops!! Can you say "time management problems?"

I have found that if you are going to take a nap, don't take a long one. If you do, you will go into deep sleep, and when you wake you will be especially groggy. Your body will crave even more sleep, especially if you are sleep deprived. Then you will wake up far more tired than when you drifted off to sleep.

I believe it was Albert Einstein (although it might have been somebody else) who used to take a kettle and turn it upside down. Then he would hold a spoon in his hand above the kettle. Just as soon as he fell asleep, his hand would relax, the spoon would fall, and there would be a loud clang as the spoon hit the kettle. That would awaken him. Obviously, this is a very short nap. But it is better to err on the side of short than long. And on the practical level, your boss may not begrudge you a short nap, but you might lose your job if you slept all day at your desk.

From personal experience, I think about half an hour is just about right. You don't go into a deep sleep in half an hour, but you can experience some much needed rest. And you won't wake up groggy, but refreshed. Can you say "catnap." My felines are feeling fine. :-)

So try napping when you are tired. It just might help.

David A. Youngs