Throughout my life I have been able to close my eyes anytime, almost anywhere and take a nap.  When my son was a toddler, I could nap with him crawling all over me.  If I have an afternoon lull in patient care, one of the reclining IV chairs in my office is a perfect place for a bit of shuteye.  If I get tired while driving, no problem, I just park in a shady spot and nod off for 10-20 minutes.

Most mammals are polyphasic sleepers, meaning that they sleep for short periods throughout the day.  To wit: cats and dogs.  Humans (at least N. Americans) are thought to be biphasic - one period of wakefulness and one period of sleep.  There is some question as to whether or not this biphasic pattern is a natural human experience or if it a response to the 8 to 5 routine predominant in N. America.  In Europe, for example, most businesses close for most of the afternoon.  You can bet that many businessmen close their eyes for a few minutes as well.  Afternoon siestas are common in S. America. 

Thomas Edison napping in his lab.

What is clear is that Americans appear to be becoming more and more sleep-deprived, and mentally and physically tired people function less efficiently and make poorer decisions than fully alert people.  Will naps by decision-makers help change the world and create a fully awakened kind of human being that can make rational, clear-minded, less reactionary decisions?  Probably not, though some notable historical people - including Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Stonewall Jackson, Salvador Dali, Yogi Berra, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gene Autry, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush -- are known to have valued an afternoon nap.

So let's take a look on the benefits of napping:

-- Napping increases creativity. One group of researchers discovered that following a nap there is a burst of activity in the brain's right hemisphere, the side associated with creativity.  An earlier study found that naps led to better performance on creative word problems.

-- Napping improves learning and memory.  According to a 2010 Australian study, although longer naps (20 minutes+) are more likely to leave you a bit groggier on waking, they can have a more profound effect on mental retention of information. In another study, participants who napped regularly improved their performance on cognitive tests of memory and vigilance.

-- Naps can enhance performance and alertness and reduce mistakes and accidents. A study at NASA on sleepy military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34% and alertness 100%.

-- Napping improves your moods. Fatigue and sleepiness doesn't feel good and may leave us touchy and irritable.  A nap can be a like a restorative mini-vacation.

-- Napping boosts productivity.  Sleep researcher Sara Mednick, PhD, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life, says that a siesta can actually improve work output and be just the right pick-me-up for sleep deprived, worn-out employees. "You reset the system and get a burst of alertness and increased motor performance. That's what most people really need to stave off sleepiness and get an energy boost."

-- Napping may decrease your risk of heart disease. A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that habitual napping is associated with a 37 percent reduction in coronary mortality, possibly because of reduced cardiovascular stress associated with daytime sleep.

Napping rules: Keep naps short, from 10 to 20 minutes to avoid grogginess; take early afternoon naps so as not to interfere with nighttime sleep; and create a restful, warm environment for your nap.

If you just can't nap no matter what you do, even just quiet rest or meditation can do wonders. Simple breathing exercises - like breathing slowly and counting your breaths can help slow down your brain and be restorative.  And on that note ... it's time for a nap. Zzz.

When we are emotionally, mentally or physically fatigued it is difficult to carry out our usual daily activities. And when we're emotionally drained, we are usually physically tired too. This can make us feel weak, achy, sore, irritable, moody, inattentive and unmotivated.  As bad as these symptoms make us feel, we often continue to push ourselves to the point of exhaustion. Prolonged or intense stress often leads to fatigue.

One way to avoid fatigue is to become more aware. Notice changes in your emotional and physical health and any signs of fatigue. Slow down and take a break before you become completely exhausted. Breathe, meditate, walk, or get some fresh air.  Know yourself and seek out activities that will help you feel better, such as yoga, massage or something creative.  Make your health a priority by giving yourself time to recharge.

Take a look at your life and notice any patterns that may contribute to your exhaustion. For example, do you take on more than you reasonably have time to do? Identify the stressors in your life, and begin to make changes. Practice saying "no." Eliminate or limit activities that make you feel stressed. Spend less time with people that are stressful to be around.

If you are an empath, someone who is highly sensitive to energy and emotions, you may suffer from emotional exhaustion because you are picking up other people's energy.  You may not realize what is happening, but it feels like your emotions are constantly changing and you don't know why.  This can lead to depression and feelings of emptiness. If you are highly empathic, and you find yourself emotionally fatigued, you need some down time.

Spending time alone to refuel can be helpful, specifically while doing a non-emotional activity such as gardening, beading or crocheting.  It is also energizing to spend time in nature with the plants, trees and water. Better yet, take a nature walk, or do some type of physical activity that takes you away from your emotions. When I was a child, my Mom used to say, "Go outside and get the stink off ya."  Now I understand what she meant.

If you are highly empathetic, I recommend a daily practice of releasing old energy, calling back your own energy, and shielding yourself. One simple way to do this is while washing your physical body in the shower, clear your energy field too. Simply imagine releasing any emotions or energy that you have picked up from others. Visualize these unwanted emotions going down the drain with the shower water.  Then imagine a spot on your forehead between your eyebrows, like a target, and call back your own energy that you have left with people or places from your past. Like darts imagine your energy coming back to the target on your forehead.  And finally, imagine a bubble of white light surrounding you in all directions, and intend that this white light will protect your from absorbing other people's energy.

Take care of yourself by paying attention to early signs of fatigue, identify stressors and limit them, and don't forget to take plenty of breaks to refuel!

Perhaps the most encouraging discovery in recent years in the treatment of cancer has been the role of Vitamin C.  Researchers have learned that a concentrated dose of ascorbic acid, delivered intravenously, is selectively toxic to cancer cells while not harming healthy cells. 

It seems that cancer cells, which utilize glucose (sugar) for energy, mistake ascorbic acid for sugar and allow it to penetrate their cells.  Once inside the cell, the ascorbic acid turns into hydrogen peroxide, which is toxic to cancer cells.  Cancer cells have the ability to neutralize small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, but not the high levels produced by intravenous vitamin C.

Studies at the National Institutes of health discovered that a rapid infusion of high dose ascorbic acid led to large concentrations of vitamin C in the extracellular space.  The vitamin C reacted spontaneously with the molecular oxygen within cancer tumors and generated large amounts of hydrogen peroxide, causing oxidative stress and toxic overload to tumor cells, much in the same way that chemotherapy is intended to work.  

But how can this be possible?  It has been known for years that Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, so how can it cause oxidative stress powerful enough to kill cancer?  The answer, researchers learned, is simple, but a bit difficult to wrap your mind around.  The effect of vitamin C within the body is dose dependent.  There are many substances that can generate different effects depending on the size of the dose.  A small dose of vitamin C delivered orally works as an antioxidant.  A large dose delivered rapidly via I.V. works as an oxidant within cancer cells.

In the 1970s, Nobel Prize winning scientist Linus Pauling and a team of researchers promoted intravenous and oral vitamin C for late stage cancer patients.  In two published clinical trials they reported that patients significantly prolonged their lives and enjoyed improved quality of life with the administration of vitamin C.  After numerous follow-up studies, the key finding was that while oral vitamin C functioned as an antioxidant and was ineffective against cancer, high dose intravenous vitamin C provoked oxidation.  Furthermore, numerous infusions of the vitamin led to tumor regression.

The reason that high dose vitamin C does not harm healthy cells is that these cells produce sufficient amounts of the enzyme catalase to neutralize the oxidative effects of hydrogen peroxide.  However, cancer cells produce only a small amount of catalase leaving them vulnerable to oxidation.  Our experience at the Hernandez Center supports these findings.  Our patients, even those with late stage diagnoses, feel better overall with improved quality of life.  Our current I.V. protocols insure blood and tissue levels of vitamin C that are both safe and effective in killing cancer cells.