Need Energy in the Afternoon? Do this!

Which is the best source of energy in the afternoon:

A.  A cup of green tea

B.  A walk around the block

C.  A Nap

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I love naps!

Did I say that clearly enough?

~*~*~ I love naps! ~*~*~

When other children complained about naps beyond the age of five, I looked forward to a warm spot in the sun to curl up under a blanket like a contented cat.  Sunday afternoons we filled with lunch, the comics, and a nap.

I have very fond memories of coming home from school, doing some homework, finding a comfortable spot on my bed, only waking to the smell of tacos sizzling downstairs.  Ahhh... if I were in "Our Town," that's a day I'd choose to relive!

In high school, whichever unfortunate teacher had me in their class around 2:00 lost my attention completely for about 20-30 minutes.  I was pretty good at disguising the naps by looking intently at my paper and holding my pencil as though I were diligently taking notes.  Looking at my notebooks, you'd see faithful note taking that slowly trailed off into a scribble of nonsense.  I once had a good friend ask, "I don't see how you learn anything in our history class!  You're either sleeping or eating!"

Once I spoke to my math teacher about it.  She said, "Well, as long as you're getting A's, I don't mind."  From then on, in her class at least, I just laid my head directly on my book and tried not to drool!

As a working adult, you would find me for about 15 minutes taking a nap at the office... but actually, that's wrong, because you wouldn't "find" me... I was usually using the toilet paper roll as my pillow!  The small break was never missed, and I came back refreshed and full of energy.  Or, I'd spend the last 15 minutes of my lunch hour with my head resting on my steering wheel.

Having children ushered in a new era of nap time for me.  The kids nap, I nap.  Even now that they're older, we have at least an hour during the afternoons where the house completely shuts down.  The older, non-napping kids know that whatever they do during that time, they must be QUIET. Shh... mommy's napping.  DO NOT CALL between the hours of 2:00-3:00.  I won't answer the phone.  It's nap time.

My adorable, energetic grandma-in-law sent me an article today.  (She always sends me envelopes full of articles and newspaper clippings, it's great.)  In it was the quiz you saw above.

So, which is best to gain more energy in the afternoon?

C.  A Nap!

It says, "Researchers at the University of Surrey in England found that ... participants who took the occasional nap when necessary had the energy to lead more active lives than their siesta-resistant peers."*

That's the best news I've heard all day!

And for the record, it also mentioned that you want to get 6.5 hours of sleep/night to live the longest.  When I'm writing, I typically go to bed at 1 and wake up at 7:30... bingo!!  Add that to my nap in the afternoon and I'm an energizer bunny!

Are you as surprised as I am about the answer?  What has your experience with nap time been?

"...for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10b

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* From the Family Health Quiz, Parade Magazine, page 14, January 9, 2011