Photo by Back in the Pack

So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother’s eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

~John Lennon~

The benefits of napping have been argued for years, by the world’s finest sleep statisticians and researchers, with mixed opinions. Some argue napping is bad for you, as it causes instability to your internal clock and sleep disorders, while other believe naps to be very healthy and quite recommend it. General thought is that for every two hours you are awake you accumulate one hour of “sleep debt”. (16 awake and 8 asleep fits nicely into a 24 hour day, eh what?) If you don’t pay off your debt during your nightly sleep, it carries over until you do get it paid off. Your nap probably serves to push back how early you can fall asleep at night.

Lately a new term has been coined by specialists, called “power napping,” that consists in napping a full hour, during which your energy levels should be at a maximum. So in layman’s terms, grabbing an hour’s sleep during the day may be as beneficial as a whole night in bed, according to scientists. Of course some sleep during the night is needed, don’t think  it’s possible for a man, who hasn’t slept for over 24 hours, to recuperate a night time of sleep in the course of one hour. Even the brains agree, as experts say that a full night’s sleep is still necessary for many vital body functions, even though a short sleep may boost learning and memory.

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One of Murphy’s laws says that anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening. Doing what you enjoy most is often not so good for your health, physically or spiritually, so here are some simple rules to improve your life. I think that you have already realized that it’s not so simple to change your habits. After each disappointment you keep saying - I gonna change and that won’t happen again, but after a while your determination isn’t so strong.
Maybe it will sound like a cliché, but you have to change your life by doing very small steps. I’ll talk now about eating habits and I promise to continue this series about healthy habits.
Be very careful at what you’re eating. Sure that fast food is cheap and tasty, but you have to take into consideration its effects on your health. To continue with this idea, pay attention to sweets too. Drinking alcohol is fun, but be sure you know your limits and don’t make any abuses.
When thinking at meals, keep in mind that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You need energy for all your plans so have some cereals, milk and maybe some fruit. If you’re hungry between meals, you can have another fruit or some biscuits. Try not to eat so much in the evening - you’ll sleep better.
Then, it’s very important to have your meals at certain hours and to make a rule out of this. By doing that, you can organize your time better and follow a schedule that keeps you healthy.
In order to reduce drastically your visits to the hospital, consume every day 5-10 fruits or vegetables. Also don’t forget the milk and cereals, potatoes or bread for fibers and the meat for proteins. Once or twice a week have fish to keep your brain active.

Now you know the basic rules for a good nutrition, but how can you start applying them? At first, try to arrange proper hours for meals - take into consideration what tasks you have to do during the day and of course, the hours when you’re hungry. Than think - what you like to eat and what you don’t. Could you replace some dishes with other ones which are healthier? Sure you can! If you want something sweet, you can have a peach or a banana. That doesn’t mean that you have to forget about chocolate, just consume it less often.
Don’t over react. The most important thing is to find your balance. Don’t impose it to yourself, just find it. You know you have it, it’s there, inside you.

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Sleeping is in fact somewhat of a mistery to us because we don’t quite fully understand the complex mechanisms which happen to us when we are sleeping. Sure we know most of them or at least we think we know most of them yet some still are a mistery to us. Here is a list of things which you may find more or less useful but the facts are pretty interesting.

Well hopefully we’ve been of some use to you. Read the last thing. Twice