3 Benefits to Improving Sleep With Proper Ear Plugs

If you have not been sleeping well at night due to distraction by noise, it's high time you considered investing in ear plugs. In fact, it's hard to fall asleep when there is too much noise in your neighborhood that is often made by hooting cars and loud music. Once you have inserted them into the carnal of your ear, you will not be able to hear the noise that's made by your snoring partner or any other noise from your immediate environment. The plugs are actually not new because they have been around for some years. Fortunately, the plugs are made using soft material to prevent them from irritating your ears.  And since they are small in size, you can wear them when travelling for long distances. Here is a list of wearing ear plugs when going to bed.

Boosts Memory and Concentration

If you have not been sleeping well, you will eventually start forgetting things. This is because your brain is not getting the rest it requires to be able to store stuff. Besides that, lack of quality sleep due to noise usually causes your concentration levels to dwindle. In fact, you will not be able to focus on something for at least 20 minutes. Even if you try your best, you will end up dozing before you are done with whatever you are doing. This can be very risky especially if you operate a machine or if you are a driver. There are actually many people that die due to road accidents that are triggered by fatigue. To spare yourself from such trouble, it's advisable you invest in proper ear plugs for sleeping. This will ensure that you rest without being disturbed by any noise.

Guarantees Improved Performance

Lack of sleep causes your productivity to go south. Whether you are an athlete or an employee, your performance will never be the same when you start compromising on your sleep. Under normal circumstances, your muscles get worn out while you get involved in normal work duties such as carrying things around. These muscles get repaired when you go to bed. However, lack of sleep denies them an opportunity to heal. If you don't do something about your quality of sleep, you will not have energy to work for the long run. If you are an athlete for instance, you will no longer be able to participate in vigorous training. This will in return hurt your career and make you feel wasted.

Helps in Preventing Diseases and Weight Gain

When you start sleeping for at least 5 hours, your body will be less vulnerable to diseases. This means that your immunity levels will go up. According to scientific studies carried out in the recent past, people who don't get enough rest are more likely to suffer from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack. And that's not all. Such people tend to be more obese because they eat more often to cope with their cravings. When you get enough sleep, you will not be tempted to eat more food because your body is able to conserve the energy that it gets from the little food that you eat.

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From the cardiologist to the baker: how busy people manage sleep

© Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images What are the best tips for getting a good sleep - whatever time it might actually be? Dr Shahid Aziz

Consultant cardiologist, North Bristol NHS trust, Bristol

© ER Productions/Getty Exercise, apps, and breathing techniques can help with sleep says Dr Aziz

I have always found sleep to be a physiological necessity for my mind and body to recover – a good sleep has a significantly positive impact on my sense of wellbeing the next day. When I started as a junior doctor, I accepted that working nights and being on call was part of the training culture. What I did not envisage was that I'd still be having interrupted sleep 25 years later.

My job as an interventional cardiologist means that I am often called into the hospital from home after midnight to deal with patients having heart attacks. Often I'm on call after a full day of routine work. Busy nights on call can take their toll on our physical and emotional wellbeing, and sleep recovery can take several days. I had a particularly challenging night recently when I was called in three times to deal with heart attacks and cardiac arrests. I felt too fatigued to go in for a routine day the next morning.

One of the challenges we face as doctors is to recognise when we should or shouldn't be working. To make high-quality decisions for patient care, including for procedure-led specialities, you have to maintain a sharp focus. As a consultant, I also have to provide leadership to staff around me and communicate well with patients and their families.

Routine: To help me sleep, I like to exercise. I go to spinning classes, the gym and do road cycling a few times a week. I have the Calm meditation app on my phone, which I use at night for a few minutes. This really helps me as I do stretching exercises. I write in my journal every night – it can be anything from random thoughts to reflections of gratitude. I avoid screens before bedtime and read 10-20 pages every night. Usually I fall asleep quickly but sometimes I use 4-7-8 breathing exercises to help me.

Harpz Kaur

Breakfast show presenter on BBC Asian Network

© Andrew Benge/Redferns Harpz Kaur

I'm definitely a bad sleeper and found it very difficult to overcome once I was given the breakfast slot. I decided to join yoga classes to help me unwind and relax. I train at the gym regularly so that I know I will be tired enough by the end of the day to naturally want to sleep.

Routine: Changing the ambience of my home has been important. To make it a more relaxed atmosphere, I have calm/relaxation music playing through my speakers and light candles around the room. These little things make big differences. And I also make sure I am not doing too much throughout the day. I've learned to put myself first and bear in mind that health literally is wealth.

Toyah Willcox

Singer and actor

© Lorne Thomson/Redferns HENLEY-ON-THAMES, ENGLAND - AUGUST 20: Toyah Wilcox poses for photographers at Rewind South at Temple Island Meadows on August 20, 2016 in Henley-on-Thames, England. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

I have always had disrupted, broken sleep. Over a year, I could count on my fingers the times I have slept through the night. I don't think my insomnia is fixable: I think it's in my DNA. I cannot emphasise enough how important exercise is. I have to do at least a three-mile fast walk a day, usually in the afternoon. Movement is incredibly important in helping my body use up my energy. When I'm disciplined enough, detoxing of stimulants and exercising is also a conscious part of my day.

Routine: I take books on learning to bed – music theory, colour theory – and usually my brain thinks, "Um, I think I'd rather turn off," than learn something. But my natural pattern is to sleep from 11pm-1am, then I'm awake till 7am and I only get into deep sleep at around 7-10am. Instead of lying there praying to go to sleep all night, I get up and work. At 4am you do feel a bit jet-lagged and brain-dead, but it's a very practical time to go through my emails, pay the bills, get rid of the mundane tasks. And there's times in the summer when I'm awake as the sun is rising and I think this is the best, this is absolutely wonderful. Of course, if you have a 9-5 job this is a real problem, but as a singer, it can work well for me.

Sarah Wood

Air traffic controller, Nats

© Emily Keegin/Getty Go through your regular routine, regardless of what time it is suggests Sarah Wood

At my operational unit, the shift pattern is two early mornings, two late afternoons and two nights, followed by four days off. This requires you to swing your body clock forwards and back by 12 hours at least twice a week, so there is always going to be an effect on your sleep. I'm an expert napper and don't find it odd to be sleeping at any time of the day or night.

The key to coping with such varied shift work is to embrace the inevitable changes to your lifestyle – don't fight it. I try to be kind to myself and plan my life activities around what sleep I can expect the next night. A lot of people struggle with staying asleep for long enough after a night shift to feel refreshed.

Routine: My tip would be that you should prepare for sleep the moment you leave work. I wear sunglasses on the way home (as long as it's safe to do so) and ask my husband to leave all the curtains closed. I would recommend going through all the little things you would normally do. For example, if you like a hot drink before bed or to read a book, then do so, and wear your most comfortable pyjamas and some warm socks – comfort really is king.

Martha Kearney

Presenter, BBC Radio 4's Today

© Eamonn McCabe/Getty Images Portrait of Irish-born English broadcast journalist Martha Kearney

Everybody asks me about my sleep pattern, so my friend Ben had a T-shirt printed for me. One side reads: "Actually I don't mind getting up at 3.30am." The other side says: "Thank you for asking."

But luckily I am a lark. I used to find working on Newsnight really exhausting – live on air at 10.30pm, then a few drinks afterwards with the producers in the Green Room. It was often hard to get to sleep afterwards. A low point came one night after work when I found myself watching Big Brother live – the contestants were all asleep. I definitely get less sleep as I get older.

Working on the Today show has had an effect too – it is very odd going to bed at 8pm, especially on New Year's Eve. Getting to sleep on the first night in a run of shifts is tricky.

Routine: I use an eye mask to block out the light, spray the pillow with lavender and put the radio on a timer. I also set three alarm clocks for 3.15am, after one morning when I overslept…

Jack Trigger

Sailor

© Damien Meyer/AFP British skipper Jack Trigger poses on his Class 40 monohull Concise 8 in Saint-Malo, western France on November 1, 2018, a few days prior to the start of the Route du Rhum solo sailing race - Created in 1978, the Route du Rhum, a solo race held every four years between Saint-Malo to Pointe-a-Pitre, in the French West Indies, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2018. (Photo by DAMIEN MEYER / AFP) (Photo credit should read DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images)

Sleep is so unbelievably important in offshore sailing, probably the most important thing, in fact. Plenty of studies have shown what sleep deprivation does to you. When you apply that to solo offshore sailing, it becomes even more relevant. There is such a fine line in this sport between sleeping too little and underperforming or making errors as a result, and sleeping too much and compromising your performance.

If I don't get enough sleep on a race, the consequences are huge. Physically, it can make you more susceptible to things such as sea sickness. But more than that, there's a point where everything compounds and your body just says "no". But it's amazing what the body can do. My philosophy on sleep is to listen to your body. It's all about cognitive function. When I'm sleep deprived, I stop making good decisions. I also have type 1 diabetes. Obviously that can be very difficult with offshore sailing, but it's supposed to be challenging and it certainly isn't impossible. I enjoy proving that it can be done.

Routine: How much sleep I get at sea will depend on the length and nature of the race. If I compete in a race over 24 hours, I won't sleep at all. For a three-day race, I'll sleep a little but not much. For races over three days, I'll try to get some sleep from the beginning so that I don't overexert myself too early on. Generally, I'll sleep 20-40 minutes every 2-3 hours. The longest I'll sleep at any one time will be 40 minutes and, if you take a race like the Route du Rhum, which I've just finished, that was over 18 days. The longest I've stayed awake during a race is probably about 62 hours.

Alice Robb

Author of Why We Dream

© pookpiik/Getty Diary or notebook and vintage alarm clock on bed in bedroom at home or hotel, working or note something before sleep.

When I was 22, I went through a period of pretty debilitating insomnia. I was sleeping only a few hours a night and I was basically miserable all the time. I got through that, thankfully, but I never took sleep for granted again. In 2011, I happened to find a book by lucid dream pioneer Stephen LaBerge, and I used his techniques to induce lucid dreams (dreams where you are aware within the dream that you are dreaming). I found that experience mind-boggling, and wanted to learn more about what's going on in the brain during lucid dreams as well as regular dreams.

I started keeping a dream journal, and the entries quickly got longer and more detailed. Training myself to recall more of my dreams has improved my relationship with sleep. It's helped me appreciate that sleep isn't some dead zone – we're still thinking, fantasising, feeling. I went from being anxious about going to sleep to being excited to find out what I'd dream.

Routine: We dream every time we have a REM cycle – four or five times a night – even if we forget most of them. Devoting a minute or two a day to thinking about dreams, or a pre-bed thought for your intention to remember them, can improve your dream recall. But the easiest way is to keep a dream journal and write in it first thing in the morning – before making coffee, before looking at your phone, before getting out of bed. Any bodily motion or engagement with the physical environment can jolt you out of your internal world and erase your memories from the night.

Shauna Coxsey

Professional rock climber

© Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images Team GB Rock Climber Shauna Coxsey

I love sleep. I value it a lot and I am very careful to ensure I get enough. I think most people are guilty of underestimating the power of sleep. But as an athlete, sleep becomes even more important. We need sleep to recover, to recharge, to train harder, to get better at our sport. It's easy to view sleep as a necessity rather than value it as something that contributes to your wellbeing. I think a lot of people have an unhealthy relationship with sleep; in a world that seems to be getting busier and busier, we often seem to be resenting the fact that it's necessary.

Routine: I generally go to bed pretty early and rarely struggle to get to sleep. I don't use my phone in bed – I think that is the best tip I could give anyone. Having a good sleep routine leading into a competition really helps. I know I'm going in off a good bank of sleep, so if I have a bad sleep the night before, then that's OK. I see little point in getting stressed about not being able to sleep. I also know that I can perform well after a bad night's sleep because I've done it before.

Rebecca Spaven

Baker, Brick House Bakery, London

© eggeeggjiew/Getty 6pm is bedtime for Rebecca Spaven ahead of her early starts

When I do a bake shift, I'm in from 3am to 10.30am. Those solitary night-time hours are my favourite. I get to play music and work to my own rhythm, unsupervised. There's no better feeling than rewarding yourself for all your hard work with an early breakfast of an oven-hot baguette and butter. The hours fly past so quickly and by the time everyone else is waking up, my working day is almost finished. Walking out of the bakery into daylight makes me feel like I've somehow cheated the system and blagged myself a whole day off. The only downside is it can feel a bit like jet lag without having had the holiday.

You have to have a very rich inner life to be a baker. I've struggled with adapting my social life to my working schedule. Having a few days in my week where I have to say no to any plans due to early starts was tough to begin with, especially at weekends. I've struggled to find people willing to go out dancing with me on a Monday evening! 

Routine: If I've had a day off before an early shift, I always make sure I get enough fresh air and exercise to be able to fall asleep early-ish the evening before. There's no point in trying to get seven hours of sleep in as I'll just end up lying awake for hours, but the first shift of the week is usually easy to get through on willpower alone. Once I'm back into the rhythm of the week, I'll be so tired it's easy to fall asleep at 6pm. Luckily, there's an abundance of carbs and coffee and cake to keep me going through a long shift when I'm at work.

Ben Holden

Editor of Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups

© Elva Etienne/Getty A bedtime story should be nothing to do with work, or Brexit, says Ben Holden

Once I became a parent I realised that, just as the human race is the most profoundly arrogant species to ignore billions of years of evolution and disregard its light-dark cycles, so can we grownups be very hypocritical when it comes to the bedtime routine we adopt for ourselves, as opposed to that we impose on children.

Routine: I would never dream – pun intended – of letting my kids use a device immediately before lights-out. My wife and I like to get them settled in bed early. We read together most nights (they are 10-year-old twins) – a story or a chapter of a book.

The oral storytelling tradition has prevailed since Ancient Greece and the bedtime variant is its most precious iteration. Moreover, various fairytale archetypes – such as that behind Jack and the Beanstalk – have been shown to date back more than 5,000 years. This is all quite primal stuff. Bedtime stories are a powerful, beautiful thing for a family and beneficial to all parties on every level. A good story told well, either aloud or not, takes the mind off things by rounding out the day's own narrative.

As for the perfect bedtime story? Nothing too compulsive – you do need to be able to put the book down – nor stressful. Ideally it should be something far-removed from work, too. And definitely nothing about Brexit.

Related gallery: 19 things bad sleep does to your body (Momme)

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Dozens sleep at Ramsey County Sheriff's Office to evade the cold

More than 50 people slept Friday night in the lobby of the Ramsey County law enforcement center, which was opened up for vulnerable adults to evade subzero temperatures.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher had opened up the lobby after the Union Depot, which acted as an emergency shelter during last month's polar vortex, was closed again Friday.

While the lobby will be closed to the homeless Saturday night, it could reopen if temperatures drop to dangerous levels again, said sheriff's spokesman Roy Magnuson.

"That's the commitment of the sheriff and the commitment of the county," he said. "We'll respond if it's life-threatening."

A total of 57 people slept on the floor of the lobby, Magnuson said. They were given bedding from the detention center and food from the kitchen.

"It was warm, it was respectful, there were restrooms and it was uninterrupted sleep," he said. "Possessions and other things were all safe."

People cleared out between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday, Magnuson said.

More than 100 people were staying overnight at the Union Depot during the polar vortex, Magnuson said. On Friday, deputies also took people from there to nearby shelters that had increased their occupancy limits.

Union Depot will again close at midnight Saturday, he said.

 

 

 

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Watch this Super Bowl commercial — it could give you a ‘brain orgasm’ (or put you to sleep)

A new Super Bowl commercial aims to calm frenzied football fans with oddly relaxing images of actress Zoe Kravitz whispering into a pair of microphones and softly tapping on a bottle.

The beer ad , which already has drawn more than 10 million views, stands to expose a vast audience to an internet craze known as ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response.

Some people spend hours watching videos of hair brushing, paper crinkling or “happy little clouds” artist Bob Ross painting because they say it makes their brains tingle. They report feeling a rush from the subtle, repetitive sights and sounds, but is it all in their heads?

Not everyone feels ASMR. And so far, there’s not enough evidence to recommend it as a stand-alone treatment for depression, anxiety, insomnia or any of the other problems its fans claim it solves.

But a few scientists are trying to study ASMR, and there is evidence that there might be something to it. And if any harm is done, it’s not financial: It’s usually free.

WHAT IS ASMR

Most people agree the sound of nails on a chalkboard is freakishly unpleasant. ASMR is described as an opposite feeling: a tingly euphoric response, usually starting on the head and scalp, and sometimes spreading down the neck, arms or back.

Triggers include videos of someone turning pages in a book, pretending to give an eye exam or tapping on a collection of purses .

Some call it a “brain orgasm,” though most say it’s not sexual. They say it’s deeply relaxing, making it different from goosebumps or chills. The feeling helps some people get to sleep.

“I’ll feel my eyelids start to droop. I’ll feel a tingling sensation start toward the top of my head and slowly travel down my neck to my shoulders to my fingertips,” said Robert Calaceto, 24, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, who uses it nightly before going to sleep and sometimes after work. “Listening to these videos helps my mind to mellow out.”

Craig Richard, author of “Brain Tingles” and a professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, traces the history to 2007 when a post titled “Weird sensation feels good” kicked off a conversation in an internet health forum.

A Facebook group and YouTube channels followed. From the start, people shared their triggers: slow or quiet talking, chewing sounds, even teeth cleaning .

Today, millions subscribe to content from the most popular ASMR artists. Advertisers use it for products including Dove chocolate , Behr paint and IKEA . A hair-cutting scene in the 2017 movie “Battle of the Sexes” was designed to elicit the response. A live ASMR spa experience has launched with planned performances in New York and California.

IS IT REAL?

About a dozen research studies have been published. That’s not a lot in the world of medical science.

In England, University of Sheffield researchers found something surprising when they hooked up 112 volunteers to electrodes to gather biophysical data during ASMR videos: The tinglers seemed physically excited, but their heart rates slowed.

Half the volunteers were self-identified ASMR fans. They had greater reductions in their heart rates â€" by about 3 beats per minute â€" compared to the non-tinglers while watching the same videos. Their bodies became more excited, compared to non-tinglers, as measured by how their skin conducted electricity.

In Canada, University of Winnipeg researchers conducted brain scans of 11 people who experience ASMR and 11 people who don’t. The scientists measured which areas of the brain fired together when participants were lying in the scanner but weren’t watching any videos.

In the brains of ASMR people, they saw unexpected “teams” of neurons firing together, suggesting that normally distinct networks were blended together. It was as if “a few members of the Seahawks are trying to play outfield for the Mariners,” said Stephen Smith of the University of Winnipeg.

That could mean ASMR is similar to synesthesia, a better-known condition where people describe seeing music or numbers as specific colors.

PLACEBO EFFECT

Louisiana State University researchers tried to see whether the power of suggestion affected people’s responses to ASMR audio clips. It did, but only for the people who never before experienced ASMR.

The study involved 209 volunteers, including fans of ASMR recruited from the online forum Reddit. All were told about the ASMR effect and that they would hear three audio clips.

Half were told the audio clips were known to produce the effect. The others were told none of the audio clips had been shown to elicit ASMR. Some clips were ASMR-triggering sounds such as a whispering and tapping. Other clips were fakes: screaming and piano scales.

The encouraging instructions made a huge difference in those who’d never experienced ASMR before; they mostly felt tingles when they were told to expect tingles.

But ASMR fans weren’t fooled by the fakes or the misleading instructions. They reported more tingles when they heard legitimate ASMR audio, no matter what they were told ahead of time.

“In a way, it doesn’t matter as long as what the user experiences is relief or stress reduction,” said Megan Papesh, who led the study. “It seems relatively harmless and it is free, which is wonderful.”

WHAT’S NEXT

For ASMR to take hold in mainstream science hinges on whether the craze lasts long enough for researchers to find out whether it helps people with stress or other health problems. That kind of study is expensive and lengthy.

For now, Richard said the best way to think about ASMR is “supplemental intimacy.” It shouldn’t replace healthy relationships, but it can be used like a vitamin to improve mood.

A pleasant feeling caused by a soft voice, caring gaze, gentle disposition, light touch and soothing hand movements â€" “that’s something we’re born with,” he said, “and its purpose is to soothe and comfort.”

It could even be educational.

“I think it helps teach people the feeling from a healthy relationship,” Richard said. “You can have people learning for the first time what a healthy relationship feels like from an ASMR video.”

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Listening to yoga music and making to-do lists can help you sleep better, studies show

Christine Lampard breaks down in tears while discussing birth of first child Tesco is currently selling LOL Surprise toys for half price in stores Martin Lewis cancels TV appearance after suffering with 'agonising' ulcer

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Hittmaker: A Music Producer Who Doesn't Sleep

Chicago Music Producer HittMaker knows a thing or two about sleep deprivation. In fact, he knows so much about it that it is the inspiration behind the name of his first full length project, which dropped this past July. Entitled "No Sleep, Vol. 1," the story about how the project got its name is a testament to HittMaker's tireless work ethic behind the boards. After a week-long time period where he blew off sleeping in favor of honing his craft, the local musician received a stern warning from his family doctor. "You need to sleep," the doctor had told him. "If you keep living like this, you're going to die." Like countless other artists around the globe, HittMaker is a perfectionist. He spends hours on end each and every day working to perfect his art and promote his brand. And when he isn't in the studio making beats, his mind is running rampant with ideas. Elaborating on this, HittMaker says, "I'm so driven to be the best at what I'm doing. If I'm out at a function, my mind is constantly making melodies cause I'm not in the studio. It drives me crazy....I'll rush home and start making something." HittMaker is a mad scientist of sorts. Every little detail in his music has to be perfect, and he will not go to bed until he is truly satisfied. On the weekends, he says he spends about twelve hours a day working on beats, and his goal is to make ten a day. He stated point blank that he refuses to rest until he has reached that goal. "Sometimes I'll be up until 2 or 3 in the morning and I won't be able to sleep....I'll be up all night."

HittMaker, whose real name is Paul Whittaker, originally hails from St. Louis, Missouri. Stating that he was always around music throughout his childhood, it was when he started playing around with Garageband on his dad's computer that he started to take music seriously. "I'd always play around with it," he says, looking back on the earlier days of his journey. "I'd always be listening to the radio and a lot of Hip-Hop later on. Eventually it led to me investing my money into it and that's where I am now." Once he discovered how passionate he was about music production, HittMaker hit the ground running right away. Devoting virtually all of his free time to making beats, late nights occasionally spilled over into the school days that followed. He reflects, "I would go to school, come home, do homework right away and try and finish by 6. Then I would try and make beats until twelve. Sometimes that didn't work out....I'd bring my laptop to school and skip lunch to make beats." Knowin g that he wanted to pursue his passion as a career, Hittmaker decided to attend Columbia College Chicago where he is now enrolled as a freshman studying Audio Production.

Through the soundboards where he channels his creativity, Hittmaker has managed to develop a sound that is unique and all his own. However, that doesn't mean he is devoid of influences. He stated that well-regarded Hip-Hop producers Metro Boomin and Travis Scott were influential early on, and that he was later influenced by the work of Pi'erre Bourne, Mike Will, Wheezy & Turbo. Hittmaker cites Rapper Playboi Carti's project "Die Lit" as being influential as well. Stirring these ingredients in his own personal melting pot, Hittmaker has been able to carve out his own niche in the modern trap music scene, a subgenre of Rap often regarded as being redundant and lacking substance. With his No Sleep album, HittMaker is able to come through with a project that is intoxicating yet effortless. Every song blends into one another perfectly, creating a balanced, cohesive body of work as opposed to a thrown together collection of tracks that sound messy and disorganized. He proves that pr oducers are every bit as capable of putting out a well thought out project as MC's are. Even though HittMaker works harder than most, he crafts a cutting edge, pristine sound on this album with ease.

HittMaker has his eyes toward the future, but he also has both feet grounded firmly beneath him in the present. He has an EP on the way entitled "Timeless," which is slated for an October release date. Speaking on how it might differ from No Sleep, he says that the sound of the record will have more depth. "I want it to be something more deep with in the sound...Something more deep and meaningful within the production value." He also says he will be dropping No Sleep, Vol. 2 on July 7th, 2019, which is his birthday. He wouldn't say much about this project, other than to say he will be expanding upon his sound more and more with each release. For now, HittMaker says he is working on the upcoming EP, and is focused on networking and building his name around the Chicago scene. Figuring he'll put just as much of himself into networking as he puts into his music, he should have no problem garnering attention. As for his sleeping habits these days? "Better," he says with a laugh. "As lo ng as I can sleep in I'll be fine."

Listen to HittMaker's Debut Album "No Sleep, Vol. 1" currently available on all streaming platforms.

Listen to HittMaker on Soundcloud @HittMaker

Follow him on Instagram @1hittwonderbeats

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Now It's Stylish to Sleep On The Job

Napping on the job has long been considered a fireable offense, and in many corporate cultures, employees wear long hours with too little sleep as a badge of honor, proof of their dedication. However, employers are coming to realize employees suffering from burnout are poor employees, and as the employee well-being revolution continues, companies are adopting--or rejuvenating--a long-held tradition: the power nap.

But First, a Quick Science Lesson We All Need

According to the CDC, a third of adults are not sleeping the recommended seven hours a night. This deprivation contributes to a plethora of problems. Employees without enough rest under their belts are more reactive, less creative, less logical, and less empathetic, and that's before taking into account the increased anxiety, anger, and blood pressure problems sleep deprivation can cause.

Humans are built for the afternoon nap. It's not a glitch in our systems. Studies have proven the afternoon drag between 1 and 3 p.m. is biological, not a food coma or our body's shout for sugary snacks or caffeine.

The Power Nap is Back

When employers consider the staggering $411 billion in economic losses per year due to employee mistakes, lost working days for illness made worse by sleep deprivation, and missed opportunities thanks to poor creativity and logical thinking, the solution seems simple, right?

Enable employees to get more sleep.

First, the cool kids, like Google and Zappos, were doing it, providing employees with quiet spaces where they could catch some ZZZs. Ben & Jerry's have been providing nap rooms to their employees for over a decade now. But more companies are catching on, and doing so with style by making nap pods, sleeping nooks, and sleep-supporting furniture part of their design.

Dreaming of a Comfortable, Nap-Friendly Office

Nap pods such as the ones manufactured by MetroNaps fit right in at NASA, but what if they don't match the aesthetic for your company? You want all the benefits of well rested employees, including boosted alertness, mood, memory, and creativity, right? You know it's about working smarter, not longer. After all, no one wants their employees collapsing from exhaustion and hurting themselves, like what happened to media mogul Ariana Huffington, who broke her cheekbone on her way down.

You don't have to dedicate whole rooms to napping space for your workforce, nor do you have to put a space-age sleeping module in the middle of your soothing biophilic space. Maybe a comfortable chaise lounge is more your speed.

Or perhaps you prefer a multi-purpose piece with versatility as well as function with this modular seating perfect for napping, sitting, lounging, and yes, even working.

But it doesn't have to be that complicated. Sometimes, a beautiful sofa in a low-traffic area will do.

The Beauty of the Nap Pod

There's no denying, however, the versatility and sleekness of the modern nap pod, however. They minimize distractions, and have features designed to put the power nap back on the grid:

Ergonomic comfort to take pressure off achy joints, relieve muscle tension, and get the blood flowing.

Privacy visor to minimize distractions, so that 20-minute power nap remains only 20 minutes.

Gentle waking features, such as vibrations and soft music, that don't jar people out of their snooze.

Pre-programmed auditory rhythms designed to send the user off to dreamland in the blink of an eye.

Universities are bringing them in to libraries for students who need that quick dip into dreaming to rejuvenate an overtaxed mind. Hospitals have long provided space for physicians and nurses on days-long shifts to catch some sleep where they can between round-the-clock patient care. It's honestly about time Corporate America wake up--or not, as the case may be--and realize happy, productive employees are well-rested employees. By giving room, or pods in this instance, for employees to take naps, companies are recognizing burn out is no longer a point of pride.

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