Nap News
March 15, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, asked a group of volunteers to participate in a memorization task the morning, then a second one in the evening. Some of the subjects were given a quiet room to take a 100-minute nap in during the afternoon, while others were not. The difference was stunning: The nappers scored an average of 20 percentage points higher than those who didn’t have the sleep advantage.
“It’s not simply enough to sleep after learning,” study co-author Matthew Walker told LiveScience. “It turns out you also need to sleep before learning.”
The study found that our mental abilities slip dramatically as the day wears on if we’re not allowed an opportunity to rest up: Non-nappers did 12 percent worse on the evening test than they did in the morning session. In contrast, those who were able to sleep showed a 10 percent improvement on the evening test compared to their performance that morning.
Walker and his fellow researchers believe that electric charges known as “sleep spindles” that occur during NREM sleep are responsible for the dramatic boost. The spindles work to transfer freshly-gained knowledge from the hippocampus, where memories are made, to the prefrontal cortex, where long-term memories are stored.
“It’s almost like clearing out your informational inbox of your e-mail so you can start to receive new e-mails the next day,” he said.
So if you want to get ahead, make the time for a nap. “Sleep is doing something very active for things like learning and memory,” says Walker. “I think for us as a society to stop thinking of sleep as a luxury rather than a biological necessity is going to be wise.”
Beth
Jonathan Stalls walks across America for KIVA, a micro-lending nonprofit org
December 22, 2010 by · View Comments
This morning, Tuesday, July 20, at 8a.m. Jonathan Stalls set out for a 15-mile walk from Littleton to Denver with about 10 of his family and friends. Metro State’s Office of Alumni Relations caught up with him just before his trek across the city to chat with him about the purpose of this walk and his walk across America. Jonathan will be speaking at the Auraria Campus Recreation Center this afternoon at 3:30p.m.
Sing, it’s Friday!
July 30, 2010 by admin · View Comments
When was the last time you sang? Maybe it was this morning in the shower. Or maybe it was in 9th grade choir, 15 years ago. Singing is therapeutic. It has an emotional purging quality and improves your overall breathing. Not only that, but it makes your speaking voice sound better, more resonant.
So stop reading this blog and go find a song and sing for 5 minutes. It’s an order. I’ll do the same. This is what I’ll be singing:
Voices inside my Head - The Police
Beth
Miracle “Stillborn” Calf Comes Back to Life
March 26, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
The Asian elephant mother delivered the male baby in the early hours of Wednesday in what Taronga Park Zoo officials said was “unbelievable good fortune”.
“Dedicated keepers reported the amazing news early this morning that the calf had been born and was showing signs of life,” said zoo director Cameron Kerr.
On Monday, Kerr said despite an expert team of vets who had prepared for every eventuality, the calf had not survived after six days of labor, and ultrasounds found there was no chance of a successful birth.
(Reporting by James Grubel, editing by Miral Fahmy) Source: Reuters
World, meet “Mr Shuffles”
Beth
