So what’s a tired soul to do?

Pay to take a nap. In a pod.

That’s right, a new craze called nap pods are hitting the scene, and for about a buck a minute, you can pay to be temporarily transported to dreamland in the nap pod of your choice.

Going with the alpha pod leaves you with a spa-like experience, since it releases aromas and has a heated, vibrating bed, a CD player and headphones. In essence, the real world around you just disappears. The energy pod, on the other hand, reclines and has headphones with music piped in.

I’m sure by now most of us know the benefits of a power nap. But is a midday rest worth spending money on? Those who have tried the pods insist it’s a more refreshing nap, in part because of the solidarity of it, and totally worth the moola.

I must say, I’d be tempted to try it. But I can’t say I’d snooze in a pod with any regularity. How about you?

Story source (with photos of nap pods)

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Image details: Dry spaghetti pasta served by picapp.com

Got a thing for carbs? First of all, welcome to the club. I am the Carbohydrates Anonymous Prez, nicetameetcha.

Second, there is hope for us yet.

If pastas, breads and potatoes make your heart sing, perhaps you’re not getting deep enough sleep at night.

Huh?

Yep, evidently, sound sleeping helps regulate the hormones in charge of carb cravings and the blood sugar spikes often associated with them. It’s important to remember even the smallest of noises can disrupt your rest, so try using earplugs or a white noise machine for those carb-crunching Zzzzz’s you so desperately need.

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Image details: Portrait of a young woman sleeping fully dressed on a white bed served by picapp.com

Well, you don’t have to tell me twice to follow this advice:

Get more sleep!

So the deal here is that we can go about our business, scraping for anything remotely resembling rest, or we can make sleep a priority and lose weight. Boy, I’m just not sure on that one. Lemme think a sec…

Okay, yeah, I’ll play. I am officially on board with the findings that too-little sleep ends with a 40% increase in cortisol in the blood (cortisol is a stress hormone that’s been proven to slow down metabolism). Not only that, but you might also experience a whopping 33% increase in hunger pangs and cravings, which you know you’re bound to give in to. No thanks.

Sounds like a much better plan to work at getting those elusive seven blissful hours of snooze time, don’tcha think? Me too.

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Image details: Couple Sleeping served by picapp.com

Is sleep that elusive thing that is so close for you, yet so far away? Well listen up, people – literally.

Since a good night’s rest is essential for the purposes of problem-solving and gaining a fresh perspective, you really need to do whatever’s in your power to get that shut eye.

And according to the Journal of Advanced Nursing, simply listening to soft, serene music for about 45 minutes before slumber time may be an easy fix. In fact, people who did so were found to sleep deeper and longer. Not only that, they also woke up more alert the next day than those who didn’t didn’t listen to restful music.

See, that iPod’s good for something other than drowning out the sound of fighting kids, now isn’t it? (Although that’s pretty important, too.)

Good night.

Zzzzzzzzzzz….

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 Their son Rhett suffers from chiari malformation , a structural defect that puts pressure on the brain stem which controls vital functions such as sleep, speech, circulation, and breathing. But thanks to experimental surgery designed to relieve this pressure, Rhett (and his parents) are now sleeping…

Unable to Forget – although most of us would love to have better recall of past events, no one wants to remember every single life event. After all, there are somethings in life that you just don’t want to remember. But for one woman, all events – good and bad – are stuck in her memory and won’t let go. She is Jill Price, author of ‘The Woman Who Can’t Forget’.

A Personality Test for Your Cat – The Feline-ality program, developed by Dr. Emily Weiss of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is little like a ‘What Kind of Cat are you?’ quiz.

Might sound entertaining but this program, currently running in 45 shelters, aims to end the animal-human mismatches that often results in the cat being returned to the shelter. Prospective adoptees fill in a questionaire which gives them a color code. This color code will match up with a suitable cat personality – ‘leader of the band’, ‘the personal assistant’, or the ‘private investigator’ – that will make for a happy home for both human and cat.

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Travelodge had a sleep survey study done that found “…63% of the nation [Britain] is sleep deprived due to stress and 58% claimed watching goldfish could be the answer.”

It’s been accepted for years that watching fish has a relaxing and de-stressing affect on people. Think about it – the waiting rooms of dentists and doctors all have fish tanks for the sole purpose of helping their clients relax.

So Travelodge decided to trial ‘goldfish therapy’ at two of their hotels – the Leeds Vicar Lane and the Birmingham Fort Dunlop Travelodge in England. Customers at these two hotels pick out their goldfish at reception when checking in and are instructed to watch the goldfish for a minimum of 15 minutes to de-stress before sleeping. Of course, you could simply watch it until you fell asleep.

And just in case you’re concerned about the welfare and safety of the goldfish, fear not. The managers and staff responsible for the goldfish have been trained through the RSPCA and Travelodge involved a leading animal psychologist to help in developing and maintaining the ‘goldfish therarpy’ program.

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