Welcome once again to my summer re-run series. Many of you have expressed your appreciation for my bringing these topics back up to the forefront so you don’t have to spend time scrolling around searching for the things you need to read. I appreciate your not wanting to spend time at the computer browsing.  So, today I bring you a fun little item that I posted a while back.

This topic is near and dear to my heart. Since I enjoy a nap, a rarity in my house, and I need to make decisions that are often difficult about running a household and taking care of my family, this particular topic remains one of my favorite.

Please take a moment to enjoy this post from the past:

I don’t usually get a nap in during the day, but I think I’ve found a reason to schedule the time.  Like most people, I’ve got one or two or a dozen decisions that I need to make; decisions on issues that are important to me and my family.  No matter how many times I list and re-list the potential solutions to these problems, I just end up right back where I started… nowhere.  So, another week goes by and I still haven’t decided what I should do.

Searching around the internet the other day, I stumbled upon a Harvard Medical School dream study authored by Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D.  I’ve always been interested in dreams, so I gave it a glance.  What I found was very encouraging to me and I quickly developed a plan around it to reward myself with a nap.

The study indicates that people who focus on a specific decision-making problem as they fall asleep, dream about a solution to that problem within a matter of a week or so.  Because our brains are less likely to be distracted as we’re in the deep-dreaming sleep stage, we will dream about the solution to our problem.  The idea is, we already know the answer, somewhere, but just can’t reach the conclusion we need until our brain relaxes enough to “dream up” the solution.

Now, if that isn’t an excuse to take a nice, long nap today, I don’t know what is.  Hire a babysitter, lay down when your baby takes a nap, call in Grandma… do whatever you need to do to get a nap in.  Get out a pad of paper and write down one decision you need to make or problem you need to solve.  Concentrate on one problem at a time.  After you’ve written out your problem, curl up under a big pile of covers, close your eyes, and relax.  Lights out, no television, no music… just pure quiet.  And sleep… perchance to dream.

Dreams and decision making.  This may be the craziest excuse I’ve ever heard to lay down and take a nap, but, as they say, it just might be crazy enough to work.  If not, you’ve gotten some well-deserved rest.  Treat yourself to a nap today.  Your world, and your family’s world, will be a little brighter.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 6:21 am and is filed under Fuzzy Wuzzy Wednesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.