Afternoon nap

An hour of nap in the afternoon can recharge a person's brain power and improve the brain's memory. Scientists have found that a short nap makes it easier for the brain to store and retrieve items of short term information needed for working or studying.

Infants need to sleep many times a day. Sleep is very beneficial for a developing infant.

Children need to take a 90 minute nap.

Pregnant ladies in the third trimester also will benefit from a short nap in the afternoon.

According to Dr. Sara Mednick member of National Sleep Foundation and Associated Professional Sleep Societies a nap has numerous benefits as follows:

• Increases your on the job alertness by 100 percent.
• Sharpens your thinking so you make more accurate judgments and better decisions.
• Ramps up your productivity.
• Regenerates skin cells so you look younger.
• Increases your sex drive.
• Helps you lose weight by altering metabolism and shifting chemicals that affect appetite.
• Reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular problems.
• Lifts your mood by bathing your brain in the neurotransmitter serotonin.
• Speeds up your ability to perform motor tasks, like typing, operating machinery, even swimming.
• Improves your accuracy in everything.
• Improves the way your body processes carbs, which reduces your risk of diabetes.
• Sharpens your senses so you take in what's important in your environment.
• Puts your brain into its creative gear so you can come up with fresh ideas.
• Triggers a naturally occurring hormone that blocks the destructive chemicals produced by stress.
• Boosts your ability to learn something new and better yet, remember it.
• Zaps the need for drugs like caffeine and alcohol to manipulate your mood and energy level.
• Relieves migraines
• Actually improves your nighttime sleep.
• Makes you feel good all over

Nails and your health

Your nail appearance can tell you about many illnesses in your body.

• Very pale nails which reflect the blood flow in the skin underneath can indicate anemia.
• White spots can signal liver problems and Zinc deficiency.
• Brown tips on nails mean kidney problem.
• Red moons signal heart disease.
• Yellowed, thickening, and slow-growing nails tell about a respiratory illness or from swelling of your hands (lymphedema).
• Nail problems such as pitting: small depressions in the nails and splitting can be the result of skin disorder; psoriasis.
• Clubbing occurs when the tips of your fingers enlarge and your nails curve around your fingertips. This condition results from low oxygen levels in your blood and could be a sign of lung disease. Clubbing is also associated with inflammatory bowel disease; cardiovascular disease; and liver disease.
• Spoon nails are soft nails that look scooped out. The depression usually is large enough to hold a drop of liquid. Spoon nails may be a sign of iron deficiency anemia.
• The condition known as Terry's nails, your nails look opaque, and the tips have white bands like French manicure. Sometimes this can be attributed to aging. In other cases, it can be a sign of serious illness, such as: congestive heart failure; diabetes; liver disease; or malnutrition.
• Beau's lines are indentations that run across your nails. They can appear when growth at the area under your cuticle is interrupted by injury or severe illness. Diseases associated with Beau's lines are: Uncontrolled diabetes; Circulatory diseases; Illness associated with a high fever caused by pneumonia, scarlet fever, mumps, measles; or malnutrition.
• If your fingernails become loose and can separate from the nail bed, this may be associated with:Injury or infection; Thyroid disease; Drug reactions; Reactions to nail hardeners or acrylic nails; or Psoriasis.