There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap,
even of the briefest,
Turn your clocks ahead yesterday? It’s a yearly move that messes my cycles and rhythms up more and more as I get older, and then just when I’ve adjusted we turn the blasted things back again. It’s not just me, either. The Monday after the clock change, there is a 5.7% increase in workplace injuries and a 17% increase in traffic accidents.
I need a nap.
Most people experience a dip in energy about eight hours after waking, and studies show that a 20 minute power nap during this time have greater benefits than an extra 20 minutes in the morning. Napping reduces stress, increases alertness and productivity, improves memory and learning, increases motivation to exercise, and boosts creativity (allowing your brain to create free associations or new ways of working through existing problems).
Leonardo Da Vinci napped; so did Thomas Edison. The vision of “Kubla Khan” was famously penned while Coleridge blinked away sleep (granted, probably opium induced). Even Martha Stewart naps (“I catnap now and then, but I think while I nap, so it’s not a waste of time”).
To help you get the perfect nap, Protect-a-Bed has offered to give away a Queen Size Protect-A-Bed Premium Mattress Cover (retail value $79.99) here on good ol’ simple.green.organic.happy.
Why do you need a Protect-a-Bed mattress cover? Well, research shows 10 percent of the general public and as many as 90 percent of people with allergic asthma (depending on the study you read) have an allergy to dust mites. And dust mites love spoiling our napping refuge, taking up residence in mattresses and pillows. As many as two million dust mites can thrive in an unprotected mattress.
Besides dust mites, other allergy triggers like pollen and pet dander can become trapped within mattresses. By using a mattress protector, allergy sufferers can create an impermeable barrier between themselves and the allergens within their bed. Protect-A-Bed® Products are listed as a Class 1 Medical Device with the FDA! By coupling mattress protection with pillow protectors that seal allergens within pillows, people can create a virtually allergy-free nap space.
This is sort of a big deal around here, where EVERYBODY suffers from seasonal allergies.
So let’s celebrate Napping Day!
—Today only, Protect-A-Bed will be hosting a Twitter contest where they will be giving away sets of Premium Pillow Protectors to those who share the funniest place they’ve ever taken a nap. To enter, follow @Protect_A_Bed on Twitter and use the hashtag #nappingday to share your funniest or strangest nap location.
—To enter to win the Queen Size Protect-A-Bed Premium Mattress Cover, just leave a reply below telling me something about your sleep or nap habits. U.S. residents only, please. Subscribe to my feed, follow me @robinelton on Twitter, or tweet/Facebook this giveaway, and you can enter again for each action (leave another comment letting me know what you did). I’ll randomly choose a winner on Friday at midnight.
Good luck, and happy napping 🙂
**For more info on the Protect-a-Bed product line, check out their website.
And in the interest of full disclosure: I have not tried the Mattress Cover firsthand, but the company is sending me one to try out for review. We did buy one for Jacob, as well as pillow protectors, after his last asthma attack (he suffers from allergies of all kinds).**
ONE MORE THING!!!!
This is a last minute addition that Cass insisted on: Ricky Gervais on Sesame Street singing Elmo a celebrity lullaby. Seriously, watch it, it’s awesome. HAPPY NAPPING!
Update 3/20/10
AND THE WINNER IS…
Comment #16: alittlerayofbittersunshine.
Congrats! I’ll be emailing you for your mailing info.
Thanks to everyone who entered! Nap well!
I should've taken a nap today. Happy National Napping Day!
Happy Napping Day, Stephanie! Cass just reminded me to add her favorite video about sleeping to this post. Come back and see what you think 🙂
Um, that was the best video ever. I am developing a serious crush on Ricky Gervais.
I love naps! But mine are usually of the 3-hour variety, not the way-to-short 20-minute kind! And usually they are on Sunday afternoons. A cold, snowy/rainy Sunday afternoon plus a soft bed plus a warm blanket plus me equals AWESOME. Thanks for the give-away Robin!
i love naps! i take them with my children all the time!
Aww, so cute! I could use a celebrity lullaby… just not one that's so Noisy.
I finally figured out why I listen to music to fall asleep. Duh, it's what everyone does, except they had parents to sing to them while I just have an ipod and speakers…
oh! And I forgot – no need to enter me in the giveaway, not that I think I entered correctly but I wanted to make that clear…
My first entry: I can't sleep unless it is dark, cold and quiet. I can't nap without the company of furless felines.
I follow your blog. Entry 2.
I follow you on twitter. Entry 3.
More importantly, do you follow me?
Entry 4. I facebooked it. You can find it by looking at my FB stuff as you are one of the lucky few who I am friends with.
Entry 5. I tweeted this. @thefrugallawyer
After all of this entering, I'm tired and I'm going to bed for real. Not just for a nap.
Entry # whatever. I made up another category for myself. I blogged about it.
http://www.thefrugallawyer.com/2010/03/do-you-have-a-queen-bed-potential-prize-alert.html
Since we share a blog, I'm not going that far. I'm also not going to abuse any other blogs that I have access to because, again, this has made me sleepy.
We also love that video of Elmo. We nap daily around here (on a queen sized bed). Catherine has learned to be a happy napper in preparation for her "baby shista"'s arrival! 🙂
Cool giveaway.
That video was great! I heart Ricky!
I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, anytime…standing up, at work, at the movies, dr's offices. It's the staying asleep part that alludes me 😉
Oh, and I followed a link here from Danielle on Facebook, so there's another entry for her! lol
I have sleep apnea that's not responding well to the CPAP machine treatment, so I basically could sleep anywhere, anytime. Unless I get my second wind at 10:00 p.m., then I'm wide awake till midnight. :-/
ooh count me in! My allergist just told me I'm allergic to dust mites and I haz the broke, so I was going to add one of these thingers to my list o'savings goals. Winning one would be rad.
In college, I would routinely take a nap on the lawn of my school in front of the main building (Called Old Main, naturally!) after lunch in the student union. The lawn was about 4 acres rolling down to the main drag in town, crisscrossed by sidewalks, co-eds playing frisbee, and a shockingly bold colony of angry squirrels. This habit served me well until I napped too long in the sun before my shakespeare final, senior year. I woke up just in time, but I was, shall we say, well-seasoned. My skin matched my tomato-colored shirt. My cheeky prof threw my exam on my desk and said, SUNSCREEN.
i tend to sleep on the couch
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