Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Naps improve recovery from exercise....

As is often the case, this is not that surprising:

The data imply that daytime naps have a potential role as a valuable recovery tool following endurance exercise,

I wish I had the opportunity to taek smoe daily naps in the afternoon. Unfortunately work intervenes.

The effect of prior endurance training on nap sleep patterns.

PURPOSE: The use of daytime napping as a recovery tool following exercise is virtually unexplored. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of daytime nap sleep following endurance training in an athletic population, and to appraise the optimal circadian timing of the nap and the time interval between training and the nap.
METHODS: Six physically trained male subjects (22.5 +/- 2.4 y) performed four separate standardized 90-min endurance training sessions followed by a 90-min daytime nap either 1 or 2 h after training (time interval), commencing at either 10:30 or 11:30 (circadian timing). During the nap, sleep was monitored using polysomnography. Subjective measurements of sleep quality, alertness and preparedness to train following a nap were recorded using a visual analog scale.
RESULTS: The duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) was significantly greater during the 11:30 naps (13.7 +/- 9.0 min) compared with the 10:30 naps (6.9 +/- 8.8 min) (P = .049). There was no significant difference in SWS duration between a 1-h (10.6 +/- 10.2 min) or 2-h (10.0 +/- 9.0 min) time interval between training and the nap (P = .82). No other sleep variables differed significantly according to circadian timing or time interval.
CONCLUSION: Recovery naps commenced later in the morning contain more SWS than earlier naps. The data imply that daytime naps have a potential role as a valuable recovery tool following endurance exercise, given the suggested energy restorative functions of SWS.

8 comments:

Billy Oblivion said...

Steps to taking an afternoon nap:

1) Find a woman who likes to work.
2) Marry her.
3) Get her preggers.
4) Explain to her that you love her so much that you'll sacrifice your career and stay home to properly care for your progeny while she continues doing that job she loves so well.

Of course, after about 6 months of her going to work every day and you staying home and playing with the kid she might decide this isn't as fair as she first thought.

geongia said...

Thank you for all your hard work. I always enjoy seeing who is picked and enjoy reading that post.


aerobics

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Exercising is a great tool it makes you feel good mentally, and when you see positive physical changes in your body you feel good about yourself. Beginning is the hard part, but once you start and stay with it, you will notice a big difference in your mentality and outlook on life. Exercising clears the mind, and soothes the soul. Any exercise is great. Even a workout for 15 minutes is great! You do not have to be Richard Simmons or Jane Fonda – just 15 minutes and you will see a difference. Some researchers say that exercise acts like antidepressants Prozac in increasing the activity of serotonin and/or norepinephrine in your brain; working out releases endorphins and other hormones that reduce pain, induce euphoria, have a calming effect, and combat stress.

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Fosamax Lawyer said...

There's power nap, and there's recovery nap from endurance exercise. Great blog, I learned a lot.