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Naps Are Good for the Heart
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Is taking naps good for your heart?
New research from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the
University of Athens Medical School (UAMS) in Greece suggests that the
answer may be yes.
In a new large, prospective study, researchers found that midday napping
(siestas) reduced coronary mortality by about one third among men and
women.
The researchers, led by Androniki Naska, lecturer of hygiene and
epidemiology in UAMS, and Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer
prevention and epidemiology at HSPH, looked at 23,681 individuals living in
Greece who, at the beginning of the study, had no history of coronary heart
disease, stroke or cancer. The study participants were followed for an
average of 6.3 years.
Siestas are common in the Mediterranean region and several Latin American
countries and those countries also tend to have low mortality rates of
coronary heart disease.
Some prior studies had looked at the association, with conflicting results.
However, this was the first large prospective study of individuals who were
healthy at enrollment and the first study to control in detail for risk factors such
as diet and physical activity.
The results showed that people who regularly took siestas, defined by the
researchers as napping at least three times per week for an average of at
least 30 minutes, had a 37% lower coronary mortality than those not taking
siestas.
Occasional nappers showed a statistically non-significant 12% reduction in
coronary mortality.
The apparent protective effect of siestas was particularly strong among
working men and weaker among those not working, mainly retirees. Among
working women, there were too few deaths to allow inferences.
The authors believe that an afternoon siesta in a healthy individual may act as
a stress-releasing process, since there is considerable evidence that stress
has both short and long term adverse effects on incidence of and mortality
from coronary heart disease.
The fact that the association was more evident among working men
compared to retirees apparently reflects the different stress levels these
subgroups have to cope with.
Trichopoulos says the public health message is clear-if you can take a
midday nap, do so.
The study was supported by the Europe Against Cancer Programme of the
European Commission, the Greek Ministry of Health, the Greek Ministry of
Education and the University of Athens.
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