Hi all,
Happy Friday the 13th. Is that the right greeting for this day? I empathize with Michael Scott’s take on this one: I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”
Friday the 13th is NOT actually the theme of this week’s Friday 5. It’s something way more exciting.
Are you ready for it? Drum roll please…
The theme is: napping! (Thanks for the idea, Brianna!)
The Stabilizing Effect of Daytime Napping
From a very recent article in the Journal of Sleep Research: This study demonstrated that under the influence of stress caused by the pandemic, maintaining regular daytime napping was an effective way to stabilize sleep patterns and biological rhythms, keep good lifestyles and alleviate the effect of acute psychological stress, and to prevent and control mental disorders during the pandemic.
Caffeine Naps
I love coffee, and I love naps. But the two seem to be at odds with each other, right? Well, if you do it properly, you can maximize the effects of both. Try a coffee nap.
Major Health Systems Recommend Napping…
…and provide tips. Just got this in my email yesterday. They also endorse the coffee nap.
Managing the Sonic Space While Napping
I don’t know if this has been studied, but it seems likely that listening choices for naps would be highly individualized. Personally, I listen to audiobooks or podcasts that I’ve heard dozens of times, because it masks other sounds and I don’t feel like I have to engage with the content. If I use music, it has to be pretty ambient and non-lyrical. Sometimes non-western music is helpful, because otherwise my music theory training kicks in and I’m analyzing chord functions and song forms (“here comes the recapitulation!”). Finally, several meditation apps have useful guides. Try Headspace or InsightTimer.
What I’m Listening To
Ok fine, we’ll do one Friday the 13th link. Here’s “Friday the 13th” by The Misfits. Beware, beware! Friday the the 13th!
Happy napping, my friends!
Matt