NAP

 Not everyone is blessed to fall asleep as soon as they lie down in the bed ....Sleep is a blessing and those who don't get to sleep peacefully at night know the pain of what it takes to do your daily chores. The fact is pharma companies are selling sleeping tablets more and more and am afraid sleeping tablets are becoming as common as Iyengar bakery puffs. So why is sleep becoming a problem ? Answer is 'Stress' ..Stress is playing a predominant role these days in everyone's life ...I can bring some examples why people are stressed so much these days :

1) Co-sister's blouse is more grand than mine and tailor messed up mine hence stress level shoots up 

2) Branch of our mango tree full of mangoes falls into our neighbor's whereas neighbor's thengai mattai keeps falling in our house hence stress level shoots up 

3) Scoring less marks on midterm tests shoots up stress levels for parents

4) When you have rasam rice in plantain leaf and realize rasam runs in all four directions, you shout at the person for pouring more rasam 

These are some of the basic silly reasons why people get stressed out which in turn disturbs your sleeping pattern. 

Recently I plotted an analysis where I figured out those who take a nap in the afternoon are much more productive at their work than people who don't take a nap. In IT world you don't get the luxury to take a nap in the afternoon but for people who run their own business they have the option to take a nap and extend their office hours in the evening. Taking a nap in the afternoon gives you that extra strength for your mind which in turn results in a productive evening. I believe in Japan young children are allowed to take a nap in order to increase attention spans. Because one is deprived of sleep it takes extra time for brain to translate visual input into conscious thought. It is even said with good nap it removes toxic waste from brain. There is a theory that napping improves creativity as right side of the brain remain active during napping and is associated with creativity. 

Staff at NASA, Google and Samsung have one thing in common that of taking a quick nap during your work hours; I have been to Google office in California and amazed to see the specially designed sleep pods called 'Metronaps' where you get into the machine and outside world is shut by a large visor playing soothing music before it gently wakes up its occupant by switching on light patterns. 

One of the biggest factors people are afraid of taking a nap is that they are afraid they will put on weight by doing so. People spell out fancy terms like 'Carbs', 'Calories', 'Diet' but they seldom realize how do temple priest live with Pongal, sambar rice, lemon rice, tamarind rice but still maintain their fitness. How many priest had heart problems ? They are constantly on the move running in and around the temple and many tend to take a nap in the afternoon. Many senior doctors in India take a good nap in the afternoon for a productive evening session; 

So what are you waiting for ? Go take a 30 minutes Nap every afternoon !! 

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