4 Reasons You Should Take A Nap

杜露

Naps can charge your brain's batteries

A NASA-funded study on astronauts found that naps up to two and a half hours long improved working memory performance. Working memory involves focusing attention on one task while holding other tasks in memory，so a poor working memory could result in errors，according to a NASA news release.

Taking a nap may make you more alert for the period right after you wake up and maybe hours into the day. A short snooze may also make you feel more relaxed.

You'll have lower risk for heart problems

Taking a nap once or twice a week could lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes，according to a 2019 study published in the journal Heart.

小憩可以給大腦充電

美國國家航空航天局資助的一項針對宇航員的研究發現，長達兩個半小時的小憩可以提高工作記憶能力。美國國家航空航天局稱，工作記憶包括將注意力集中在一項任務上，同時記住其他任務，因此工作記憶差可能會導致錯誤。

小憩一下，你可能會在醒來后的一會兒甚至幾個小時內變得思維更加敏捷。短暫的小睡也會讓你感覺更放松。

小憩會降低患心臟病風險

2019年發表在《心臟》雜志上的一項研究表明，每周小睡一兩次可以降低患心臟病和中風的風險

After tracking more than 3，400 people between the ages of 35 and 75 for slightly more than five years，the researchers found that those who indulged in occasional napping—once or twice a week，for five minutes to an hour—were 48% less likely than those who didn't nap to experience a heart attack，stroke or heart failure.

It might even help you get into shape

A 2020 study focusing on women found the more sleep- deprived the women were，the more likely they were to consume added sugar，fatty foods and caffeine.

A lack of quality sleep could lead to overeating because inadequate sleep is believed to stimulate hunger and suppress hormone signals that communicate fullness. The findings were important because women are at high risk for obesity and sleep disorders，the researchers said，which can both be driven by a high intake of food.

Napping has been found to improve the overall quality of even nighttime sleep.

And boost your creativity

The right side of your brain might experience a mental spark during a nap，research has suggested. The right side is the hemisphere most associated with creative tasks，such as visualization and thinking，while the left is more analytic.

Researchers monitoring the brain activity of 15 people found that the right side of their brain communicated busily with itself as well as with its left counterpart. The left side of the brain，however，remained relatively quiet. In a January 2020 study of 2，214 Chinese adults ages 60 and older，participants who took afternoon naps for five minutes to two hours showed better mental agility than those who didn't nap.

在對年齡在35歲到75歲之間的3400名研究對象進行了五年多的跟蹤調查后，研究人員發現，那些偶爾小憩的人——每周一次或兩次，每次5分鐘到1小時——比那些沒有小憩的人患心臟病、中風或心力衰竭的可能性低48%。

小憩可以幫助保持身材

2020年一項針對女性的研究發現，睡眠不足問題越嚴重的女性就越有可能攝入額外的糖、脂肪食物和咖啡因。

缺乏高質量睡眠可能會導致暴飲暴食，因為睡眠不足會引發饑餓，抑制傳遞飽腹感的激素。研究人員稱，這些發現很重要，因為女性肥胖和睡眠障礙的風險很高，兩者都可能是由大量攝入食物造成的。

人們發現，小睡一覺可以改善夜間睡眠的整體質量。

提升創造力

研究表明，小憩時右腦可能會產生靈感。右腦與想象、思考等創造性活動相關，而左腦則更善于分析。

研究人員對15人的大腦活動進行了監測，發現他們的右腦不僅活躍，還與左腦進行了頻繁的交流。然而，左腦保持相對平靜。2020年1月一項對2214名60歲及以上中國成年人進行的研究顯示，午睡5分鐘到2小時的受訪者比不午睡的受訪者思維更敏捷。