Napping Once or Twice a Week Lowers Heart Attack Risk
According to a Swiss study, people who take a daytime nap once or twice a week have up to 48 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure.
If you love to sleep and napping is your favourite hobby, here is some good news. A new study published in the journal Heart has found that people who nap or doze during the day have a lower risk of heart attack.
A research team at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland conducted a study and concluded that people who sleep during the day once or twice a week have up to 50 per cent lower risk of heart attack and stroke than those who never sleep during the day.
For the study, researchers tracked the activities of 3,462 Swiss adults aged 35 to 75 for about five years. When the study began, about 58 per cent of participants said they had not napped during the day in the previous week, while 19 per cent said they had napped once or twice. About 12 per cent had napped three to five times and 11 per cent six to seven times.
Daytime naps cut heart disease risk by 48%
By the end of the study, the researchers found that people who napped or slept during the day once or twice a week had up to 48 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure than those who did not sleep during the day at all in the whole week. The study was observational, meaning the researchers did not examine cause and effect, that is, why an occasional daytime nap is good for heart health.
Just a 20-minute daytime nap is enough
According to the study's lead author, however, daytime napping may be good for the heart because it lowers the stress that builds up when you do not get enough sleep. The study says nothing about how long one should sleep or nap. But according to the National Sleep Foundation, a 20-minute nap during the day is enough to improve your mood and make you more alert.
