Does a short nap during the day help or harm?

Some people gain a lot of energy thanks to it, others it breaks down and intensifies fatigue. A short nap during the day – how does it really work on our body? Here are the latest scientific reports on the subject.

1. A short nap during the day improves intellectual capacity
2. Some studies show that it also improves the condition of the cardiovascular system
3. However, there are also results linking naps to a higher risk of death, including from heart disease, but the relationships seem complicated
4. To some extent, napping may also reduce the effects of a poor night’s sleep
5. More information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page

A smarter mind

According to a work published in the journal General Psychiatry older people who take naps have better spatial awareness, linguistic competence, and working memory.

Scientists came to such conclusions after observing more than 2. residents of several Chinese cities, aged 60 and over. Volunteers slept an average of 6,5 hours a night. Some took naps once a week, some more often, even every day, for five minutes to two hours.

The authors of the study did not say anything about the effect of the particular length of napping, nor did it clearly indicate cause-and-effect relationships. However, researchers suggest that the cause of better performance may be due to naps reducing harmful inflammation in the body. This is important information from the point of view of the state of aging societies and dementia, which is more and more often diagnosed in the Western world.

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Siesta for heart and blood pressure

What about physical health? An extensive study from the University of Athens found, for example, that people taking naps have 34 percent. lower risk of death from coronary artery disease. Occasional naps were accompanied by a 12% reduction in risk, and systematic – 37%.

“After adjusting for other factors, siesta is inversely correlated with mortality from coronary artery disease in healthy subjects. This link was especially strong in working men », the authors of the finding say.

1. See also: Mistakes You Make While You Sleep. This is how you weaken your heart

In turn, according to another Greek study presented at the American College of Cardiology 68th Annual Scientific Session, naps may improve blood pressure parameters. «Taking naps in the middle of the day seems to lower blood pressure on a similar level to other lifestyle changes. For example, limiting salt and alcohol can lower blood pressure by 3 to 5 mmHg, ”says one author, Manolis Kallistratos of Asclepieon Central Hospital in Wula.

“These results are important because each 2 mm Hg reduction in blood pressure can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks by up to 10%. According to our results, if someone can afford the luxury of taking a nap during the day, they can help with high blood pressure. A nap is easy to bring to life and usually costs nothing, ”emphasizes the cardiologist.

After a sleepless night

What if someone doesn’t get enough sleep at night? Can a nap then help? Experts from Université Paris Descartes noticed the beneficial effect of short sleep during the day in this regard. «Our data suggests that A 30-minute nap can reverse hormonal changes caused by a poor night’s sleep«Says one of the scientists, Dr. Brice Faraut.

The study included only 11 men aged 25-32, but it had another advantage – all volunteers were followed under strictly controlled laboratory conditions, e.g. they ate the same meals, had the same lighting, etc.

After a sleepless night, participants had more norepinephrine associated with stress, and less interleukin-6, which helps fight infection. The nap allowed to normalize these levels.

1. Also read: Can we make up for the lack of sleep? Research results of Polish scientists

However, e.g. A team at Michigan State University found that naps, even 30-60 minutes long, do not make up for the loss of a night’s sleep in terms of intellectual capacity. Despite taking naps, the students who participated in the experiment made many more mistakes in special tests after a sleepless night. Daytime sleep only helped to a certain extent, and only when someone managed to enter its deep phase.

“Every 10 minutes of deep sleep reduced the number of errors by 4%,” says the author of the discovery, Prof. Kimberly Fenn. Of course, such a difference could also make a difference, especially in high-risk occupations such as the doctor or driver, but naps could not replace quality sleep at night.

Does a nap hurt?

Unfortunately, not all studies link daytime sleep to benefits. For example, experts at Niigata University in Japan found that in older people, naps were associated with a higher risk of death.

For almost 15 years, researchers watched as many as 70. people aged 40-79 without a history of stroke, heart disease or cancer. After taking into account other factors, they recorded 20%. higher overall risk of death and 31% greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Correlations with cardiovascular disorders turned out to be quite complicated. The risk of dying from it decreased if obese people dozed, but increased in those who lost weight after the age of 20, and also in those without a permanent job or with a low level of education.

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“Taking naps during the day is associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular causes and other non-cancer causes,” the researchers write. And they add: “Naps may increase the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease through some biological effects, but other concomitant disorders that cause weight loss or are related to irregular employment or low education may be more important in the relationships observed,” they add. So there is a possibility that the reason for the greater risk was not in the naps themselves, although the scientists did not rule out such a possibility.

Recommendations of specialists

So how do we approach naps? Experts from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) point out, inter alia, attention to the “strong evidence” that napping improves brain function. Healthy people recommend a short nap of 15-30 minutes in calm, comfortable conditions (if necessary, you can use a darkening blindfold for eyes or ears).

1. See also: How Much Do You Need to Sleep to Be Effective and Healthy?

Longer naps may be helpful in special cases, such as when you are not sleeping. Then, however, you have to take into account that it will take some time to wake up and return to normal fitness. Coffee, bright light or washing your face with water can help here. At the same time, it must be remembered that long naps can make it difficult to fall asleep in the evening. This, on the other hand, can lead to health problems over time. In the case of frequent lack of sleep, problems with sleep and the need to take naps for this reason, it is better to see a specialist for advice.