Naps
A study of nearly 24,000 people found that those who regularly took midday naps were nearly 40% less likely to die from heart disease than non-nappers.
Dimitrios Trichopoulos recruited about 24,000 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 86, in Greece, who had no history of heart disease, stroke or cancer. The researchers collected information about the participants’ napping habits and followed them for 6 years, on average.
After controlling for risk factors such as diet and physical activity, Trichopoulos’s team found that people who took at least 3 naps per week lasting 30 minutes or longer had a 37% reduced risk of death from heart disease than their non-napping counterparts.
Those subjects who occasionally took short naps lasting less than half an hour had a 12% lower risk than people who never napped.
The results suggest that taking naps might be just as important to protecting the heart as measures such as eating right and taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, says Rajiv Dhand.
The apparent protective effect of these siestas was more pronounced among working individuals than retirees.
Previous studies have linked high levels of stress hormones to increased inflammation in the body and damaged blood vessels.
Earlier work has also indicated that taking naps can improve learning and productivity (see Snooze your way to high test scores and Power naps boost work performance).