Simple Knitting Tips: Take a Nap

Surely I'm not the only one that hoards articles written showing the importance of proper rest. When my children were small I fell in love with the elusive idea of "adequate rest." Now that my kids are older, getting enough sleep isn't magically easier. While it is true that the better care I take of myself (good nutrition, regular exercise) the more energy I have, sometimes due to a change in schedule or stress or illness or snoring spouse, I find my sleep has been compromised. This fact alone tends to make me stress even more. I really really like getting enough sleep! 

With enough rest, my thoughts are more easily organized, my to-do list is more easily tackled and my creativity is more easily summoned to the knitwear design or knitting class lesson at hand. Without it, well..... NOT. 

So today's Simple Knitting Tip is this: to add some pep to your step and a clear head to your knitting work, take a nap. Either occasionally or on a more regular basis, studies show that a short nap can refresh you and make you better able to tackle tasks at hand.  

Those of you with pets or small children know how much better it is for naps to happen, as well as how much worse it is when they don't.  I have literally stopped in the middle of a tricky knitting issue before and realized that I was just too tired to think it through. Fortunately, that day it worked out for me to take a quick nap and then approach the issue from a fresh perspective.

A recent article ( http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/03/23/A-short-nap-may-make-memory-five-times-better/9181427162911/) made the claim that you can improve memory by taking a short nap. I was going to say something about the importance of good memory when knitting, but I've forgotten what it was. Time for my nap, apparently.

 

Some articles on sleep for further reading: