Take time to think about the important things

Fake it til' you make it?

Health Magazine recommends a technique called paradoxical relaxation to trick your brain into thinking you took a nap.

The technique, from Matthew Edlund, M.D and author of The Power of Rest, attempts to create a form of active rest to help you recover from a night of tossing and turning. Edlund explains how to do it by saying,

Focus on one muscle group in your body for at least 15 seconds, concentrating only on how it feels and nothing else. Repeat up and down the body. Surprise — you feel recharged.

I tried it but it didn't really work. What do you think? Try and share you experience!

Tommy Pickles did it.. you should too.

Spicing things up... kind of

I feel like my blog and I are on an episode of What Not to Wear. My blog is nice and plain.. but nice and plain doesn't attract the followers. On top of that, I'm having a hard time changing things because I like the simplicity. Clearly we have a problem.

Nonetheless, I tried a few different backgrounds. I was sticking with the cloud/sky-look theme, but nothing was cutting it. I gave up on that eventually and decided to play around with a few new header ideas. I added a little clip art, as you can see, but I don't know how well it meshes with the colors of my existing theme.

So, I'm a little stuck. Any ideas and opinions would be much appreciated!

A little advice for future bloggers...

Do some researching before choosing a title. Luckily blogspot was on my side, so I was able to switch before any weird realizations. For those of you that don't know, Happily Napping was called Happy Napping when I was foolishly posting on Tumblr.

Check out what a "happy nap" means on Urban Dictionary:

I certainly don't want my blog associated with that!

Don't you like the new name a lot better now?

Too cool to drool?

I think at one point and time we've all found ourselves in a puddle of our own saliva after a nap. Not many of us like to admit that, but it's true! This and some inspiration from classmates led me to our good friend Google. For the most part I was disgusted, but I learned that drooling can be a little serious.

Usually, drooling is caused by the inability to contain excess saliva. In most cases, this is no big deal unless you insist on having a dry pillow case. However in some cases, drooling can be really problematic. Issues with drooling include an increased risk of breathing saliva, food, or fluids into the lungs. This may cause harm if there is a problem with the body's normal reflexes (such as gagging and coughing). Good news is, drooling problems are treatable!

How do you feel about drooling? Is it just another bodily function that we all accept but aren't willing to talk about or is it absolutely disgusting?

I have a confession...

I haven't actually taken a nap in a very long time. I'll go ahead and estimate that it's been somewhere around two weeks.. and before that, it was an even longer period of time. Sadly, all this blogging about napping is using up my nap time!

With that, here's some advice to the children that don't like nap time: GET ALL THE SLEEP YOU CAN. Get off Facebook and stop texting your BFF about how that boy in your kindergarten class is really cute and just take a nap. Trust me, you will have plenty of time to act "grown-up" when you have actually grown up.

It's Wednesday; time for another someecard! This goes great with yesterday's post too, where the right nap at the right time will always increase productivity.

Why napping at work is okay.

Remember this? Now it's time to use it! While it's frowned upon in most workplaces to doze off for a couple of minutes, it makes sense for a worker to take a break if he/she are feeling drowsy. In most cases, people aren't productive when they are tired. The urge to nap is increased when you have a lack of fresh air, are stressed or when you are under artificial lighting for long periods of time. All of these things are what people can experience in your normal office job. The best way to combat this issue is to just let the worker nap. Doesn't it make sense to have about 20 minutes of un-productiveness rather than hours?

Moral of the story: Don't feel guilty about napping at work. Well, that is unless you get fired. More importantly, owners and bosses should wake up to the fact that napping, in the long run, can be productive.

And.. here is your explanation for this blog.

NapTV!

I don't think this exists in the US or in any English-speaking countries, but it's still pretty cool!

Designer Sung-kyu Nam introduced a concept that allows you to watch TV while lying in bed. All you have to do is slide in to bed, place the NapTV over yourself and you can comfortably watch TV until you fall asleep. This invention can also be used as a chair, for when you're feeling more awake and in the mood to read. The one downfall, as listed by the Techee.com, is that being so close to the TV might have some negative effects on your vision.

Check it out for yourself! Would you like this idea?

Expand your vocabulary!

FanapsticAdjective - That feeling you get when you wake up from a good nap.
Example:
Kyle: Hey bro, what's up?
John: Not much, just woke up from a nap. I'm feeling fanapstic!

NapaliciousAdjective - Another way to say something is a perfect place to nap.
Example:

Worker: What kind of bed are you looking for today?
Shopper: I don't know, I'm just looking for something very napalicious.

I was googling funny nap pictures when I came along Someecards.com. The picture I posted last week opened me up to pages and pages of these things that were all about napping! So I decided that every Wednesday I'll share my enjoyment of these cards with all of you.

Enjoy:

Happy Valentines Day!

Looking for ways to practice safe... napping?

Invest your money in this blanket and pillow combo!

Check it out here and see how YOU can experience a worry-free nap.. at least 99.99% of the time.

Hey, you don't have posts for Feb. 9th and 10th.. or Today!

I know, I know.. I'm sorry.

I originally decided to stay in my comfort zone and blog via Tumblr for this. Not like that was a bad idea or anything.. I just don't think it's appropriate for this kind of subject. In order for Happily Napping to grow, I need a responsive community. Tumblr is great for that through reblogs and likings, but for this subject I think it would work better if people could create discussion by comments. So here we are. I'm finally on blogspot!

If you couldn't tell already, this blog is dedicated to anything and everything about napping. My info section will be filled later today.. so if you're here and wondering who I am, just wait! Also, the original name was just Happy Napping.. but that url was taken on here so I did a little changing.

Enjoy! :)

Life altering issue that you don't feel like dealing with? You already know what you should really do... NAP!

Soothing Napping Music!

Check this out: http://www.napsounds.com/

This site gives you three options: Electronic, Classical and Nature. Given the names, I am sure you can figure out which each of those sounds like but I recommend you check them out for yourself. They're great variations from what I have heard before.

Positive testimonies from Power-Nappers are reported on the site as well. One said,

"...I'm personally a bit amazed how well it was able to take me to different states, bringing me out of sleep in stages. I have not had enough sleep today and any nap I would have attempted would have lasted much longer and left me feeling groggy."

Some say a quiet place gives the best nap, NapSounds obviously thinks otherwise.

How do you feel about listening to music when napping?

Strangest Place You've Ever Napped?

Most people would say in school, work or perhaps public transportation. I have them beat!

I had this post on my blog on tumblr and had an interesting response from one of my followers. She said, "I've been homeless for months. Trust me I have you beat." I guess I was wrong about that one...

Anyways, it's for 4 a.m on very cold and rainy summer morning. My friends and I stupidly decided to stay out all night after hanging out and were stuck downtown. We had no idea what we were going to do; all we knew was that we were tired, it was cold and no business opened up for at least another hour. We ended up at The Point and that's where it happened.

For about twenty or so minutes, we all fell asleep in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh. Weird, stupid and dangerous? Yes! But how many people can say they napped there in the rain at 4 a.m.?

So I ask, where's the strangest place you've ever napped?

Though this was hilarious! Mainly because of Ellen, but...

Think about the next you decide to just stop, drop and nap. People could think you're dead!

Reasons to nap.. in six words:

• Life is better when you nap.
  


• Got a problem? Take a nap.
  


• Productivity's increased with pillows and sheets.
  
  

Got more? Let me know!

Check out the Six Word Memoir Project:

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

How true!