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By Matt McFarland The Washington Post Some forward-thinking companies such as Nike and Google offer places for their employees to nap. But for most American work - ers, napping in the office is frowned upon. This is a shame given the long list of benefits from an afternoon nap. Here are eight reasons why we should embrace and encourage naps during the workday: 1. Napping makes you more productive. Research has shown that naps refresh our bod - ies, make us more attentive and improve our moods. It's in the best interest of em- ployers and employees for everyone to be function- ing at their best. Fatigue contributes to $18 billion a year in lost productivity. And when tired employees go home, they're at an in - creased risk of being in a car crash. 2. You'll likely live longer. A 2007 study found that individuals who took a mid - day nap were more than 30 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Napping also has been shown to lower blood pressure. 3. Winston Churchill napped throughout World War II. The anti-napping lobby might argue that we're all too busy at work to nap. So here's a dose of perspec - tive. The leader of a na- tion deeply involved in the most widespread war in hu- man history found time to nap. He snoozed as bombs rained down on the country he led, and still emerged on the winning side with a leg - acy of being a great leader. As the former British prime minister wrote in a memoir: "Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning un - til midnight without the re- freshment of blessed obliv- ion which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is suffi- cient to renew all the vital forces." If Churchill can beat Hit- ler while taking afternoon siestas, you can take a quick break from that TPS report. Keep calm and nap on, everyone. 4. Some of the best minds in history napped. If Churchill isn't a good enough celebrity endorse - ment for you, how about Leonardo da Vinci, Benja- min Franklin, Thomas Ed- ison, Napoleon, or Albert Einstein. All were known to nap. 5. You'll be more cre - ative. Resea rch has found that REM sleep leads to a roughly 40 percent boost in creativity. Napping was one way Salvador Dali got ready to work, writes Washing - ton Post staff writer Den- nis Drabelle: "To prime the pump for his surrealist paintings (the melting watch, the human leg with a built-in chest of drawers, etc.), the Catalan-born artist used to take — and abort — a nap after lunch. He would sit down with his arms ex - tending beyond the chair's arms. In one hand he would grasp a key between thumb and forefinger. After he fell asleep, his fingers would relax, the key would fall to the floor, the clatter would wake him up, and he would harvest the wild associa - tions common to the first few minutes of sleep." 6. Napping is natural. The overwhelming ma - jority of mammals sleep in short periods throughout the day. Humans naturally tire in the early afternoon, struggle to focus and expe - rience an increased desire to sleep. Yet society only gives us one period of the day to sleep. "Nature definitely in - tended that adults should nap in the middle of the day, perhaps to get out of the midday sun," wrote noted sleep researcher William Dement in "Sleep and Alertness: Chronologi - cal, Behavioral and Medical Aspects of Napping." 7. Napping is cheaper and more effective than coffee. The average A meri - can worker spends $1,092 a year on coffee. We need that caffeine burst to stay alert. But there are trade- offs, which professor Sara Mednick, a sleep expert, points out: "While it appears caf - feine can keep you awake when sleep deprived, com- plex cognitive processes do not fare well on this drug. A study compared caffeine with napping and placebo conditions on three mem - ory domains: visual, mo- tor and verbal. On caffeine, verbal and motor skills de- creased, whereas napping enhanced performance across all three tasks. "Furthermore, a study of caffeine w ithdrawal showed that the immedi - ate enhancements seen after caffeine abstinence completely disappear with regular use. It appears the perceived benefits of caf - feine may be more related to release from withdrawal symptoms rather than ac- tual performance enhance- ment." 8. Highly productive na- tions have embraced naps without negative conse- quences. Let's hear it for Ja- pan. While most of us are afraid to look like a slacker and rest our heads on our desks, the Japanese have overcome nap shame. "When we see people napping dur ing lunch - time, we think, 'They are getting ready to put 100 percent in during the af- ternoon,'" Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman in To- kyo, told Washington Post reporter Anthony Faiola. "Nobody frowns upon it. And no one hesitates to take one during lunchtime either." Na p ti Me 8 re as on s yo u sh ou ld b e pr ou d to s le ep o n th e jo b Mid-day snooze is good for you By Marilyn Marchione The Associated Press Surgery to remove the prostate saves lives com- pared to "watchful waiting" for some men whose cancers were found because they were causing symptoms, long-term results from a Scandinavian study suggest. However, U.S. men should not assume that immediate treatment is best, doctors warn, because the study was done before PSA testing be - came common, and a newer study found the opposite. PSA blood tests are not recommended for screen - ing by medical groups but are widely used in the U.S. That has led to a dramatic increase in the number of prostate cancers found at an early stage. Whether to treat them is a question. Most tumors grow too slowly to threaten a man's life and there is no good way to tell which ones will. Treatments can cause impotence, incontinence and ot her p ro blem s. In Europe, PSA testing is far less common, and most prostate cancers are found when they cause symptoms such as trouble urinating. Symptoms like this suggest a larger or more advanced tumor. The study involved 695 such men in Sweden, Fin - land and Iceland, diagnosed between 1989 and 1999. Half were given surgery to re- move their prostates and the rest were closely moni- tored and given surgery only if symptoms or signs of can- cer worsened. Earlier results suggested the surgery group fared bet- ter. That trend strength- ened. By the end of 2012, 200 men in the surgery group and 247 in the group assigned to monitoring had died — 56 percent and 69 percent, respectively. Im - mediate surgery most ben- efitted men younger than 65. "This study tells us we should be careful about treating anyone over the age of 65 ... and anyone who has low-grade disease," said Dr. Otis Brawley, medical officer of the American Cancer So - ciety. In the U.S., fewer men are getting treatment right away, and "we need to con- tinue that," he said. The U.S. government, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Karolinska Institute, and two foundations paid for the study. Results appear in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. surgery News Study: Surgery helps some prostate cancer patients However, U.S. men should not assume immediate treatment is best, doctors warn Bruce Powel — The AssociATed Press in this 2011 photo by the university of chicago Medical center, a doctor watches an internal video of a patient's body as he assists in prostate cancer surgery at the center. By Brady Dennis The Washington Post Could too much protein put you on the path toward an early grave? For middle-aged people who consume lots of meat, milk and cheese, the an - swer could be a resound- ing yes, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Metab- olism. U.S. and Italian research- ers tracked thousands of adults for nearly two de- cades and found that those who ate a diet high in ani- mal proteins during middle age were four times more likely to die of cancer than contemporaries with low- protein diets — a risk fac - tor comparable to smoking. They also were several times more likely to die of diabetes, and nearly twice as likely to die in general. "The great majority of Americans could reduce their protein intake," said one of the study's co-authors, Valter Longo, a University of Southern California geron - tology professor and direc- tor of the school's Longevity Institute. "The best change would be to lower the daily intake of all proteins, but es - pecially animal-derived pro- teins." That advice comes with a caveat. Even as resea rchers warned of the health risks of high-protein diets in mid - dle age, they said eating more protein actually could be a smart move for people over 65. "At older ages, it may be important to avoid a low-pro - tein diet to allow the mainte- nance of healthy weight and protection from frailty," an- other co-author, USC ger- ontology professor Eileen Crimmins, said in a release detailing the findings. Exactly how much protein belongs in the average diet has proven a topic of per - petual debate, one compli- cated by popular diets such as Atkins and Paleo, which rely heavily on animal-based proteins to help people shed weight. While such diets might succeed in that short- term goal, Longo said they could be leading to worse health down the road. Part of the confusion, he argues, is that researchers too often have treated adult - hood as a single period of life, rather than closely examin- ing the many ways in which our bodies change as we grow older. In the study published Tuesday, researchers de - fined a "high-protein" diet as one in which at least 20 percent of calories came from protein; a "low-pro - tein" diet was defined as less than 10 percent. They found that even moderate amounts of protein con - sumption among middle- aged people had detrimen- tal effects over time, a result that held true across eth- nic, educational and health backgrounds. "There is no harm," Longo said, "in eating the way our grandparents used to eat." Diet High protein diet may be too costly Meat, milk and cheese may be more risk for older people Delivering the best local news … All Ways www.redbluff.mercy.org /veincare Get a Leg up on Your Health With the St. Elizabeth Center for Vein Care. 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