1) Improves physical performance

1）提高你的身体活动能力

There are days that you feel very tired after work and don’t want to go to the gym. When this happens, a brief nap can help. I bet that you already know that a short nap makes you feel more active in comparison to a long nap. For example, I often tell my mother that I still feel tired when I’ve slept for several hours, but I feel very energetic when I’ve only slept for an hour or two.

有的日子里你会感觉下班之后非常疲惫，不想去体育场。当你有这种感觉的时候，简单的小憩一会儿可能会有所帮助。我保证你肯定早就知道短时间小憩一会儿要比很长时间的休息，能让你更有积极性。例如，我经常告诉我妈妈我在睡了好几个小时之后仍然感觉很累，但是是那个我只睡了一两个小时的时候，我会感觉精力充沛。

Studies have found a correlation¹ between short naps and improved athletic² abilities, including faster sprint³ times and better motor reaction. This is why it’s recommended to sleep well for at least 7 hours a day.

研究已经发现短时间小憩与提高运动能力之间的关系，包括速度更快的短跑以及更好的赛车表现。这就是为什么都建议每天要好好睡觉至少7个小时的原因。

2) Reduces stress and anxiety

2) 减轻压力和焦虑

Not sleeping well can make you feel more irritable⁴ and stressful. To address the problem, you can take a nap. A 2012 study by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism⁵ showed evidence of how taking a nap reduce stress hormones⁶ after sleep deprivation⁷. The adults took two short naps during the day, each lasting⁸ about 30 minutes, and they had a poor night’s sleep of just two hours. Then, the researchers measured and compared stress hormones with people who didn’t take naps but were sleep deprived.

睡眠质量不好会让你感觉更加易怒和压力山大。为了应对这一问题，你可以小憩一会儿。《临床内分泌学与新陈代谢杂志》2012年的一项研究用证据表明了在睡眠缺乏之后，小憩一会儿减少压力荷尔蒙分泌的原理。成人在白天简短的休息两次，每次休息大约30分钟，而且每天晚上只有低质量的2个小时的睡眠。然后，研究人员测量对比研究了睡眠缺乏但是没有小憩的人的压力荷尔蒙。

They found that one of the three stress hormones measured, called noradrenaline, increased the day after the sleep deprivation, but it didn’t increase in the adults who took naps. From this study, we can’t conclude a person recovers from stress by napping, but the short naps help to control the stress hormones. If you have children with bad behavior, they could be having trouble with their sleep. Sometimes they are like adults; we get cranky when we don’t sleep well, so try to take naps with them.

他们发现，测量的3个压力荷尔蒙中的一个叫做“去甲肾上腺素”的荷尔蒙在睡眠缺乏之后会上升，但是那些小憩一会儿的成年人的这项荷尔蒙指标却没有上升。从这一研究，我们并不能总结出一个人可以通过小憩来从压力中恢复过来，但是小憩可以帮助控制压力荷尔蒙。如果你有行为表现不好的小孩儿，他们可能会在睡觉方面有问题。他们有时候会像成年人；当我们没睡好的时候，会感到暴躁，那就试着和孩子一起小憩一会儿吧。