Napping Decreases Heart Stress

Sleep confers restorative effects to mental, emotional, and physical health.  With the average sleep duration is now almost 2 hours shorter per night than it was 50 years ago; sleeping less has been linked to an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular problems generally. 

Famous Nappers

The United States appears to be becoming more and more sleep deprived.  And it may be our busy lifestyle that keeps us from napping. While naps do not necessarily make up for inadequate or poor quality nighttime sleep, a short nap of 20-30-60 minutes can help to improve mood, alertness and performance. Nappers are in good company: Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush are known to have valued an afternoon nap.

Cardiovascular Benefits

Ryan Brindle, from Allegheny College (Pennsylvania, USA), and colleagues report that a daytime nap confers cardiovascular benefits.  The researchers split 85 healthy university students into two groups: One group was allotted a 60-minute interval during the day when they had the opportunity to sleep; the other group did not sleep during the day.

The researchers also asked the students to complete questionnaires assessing sleep quality and complete a cardiovascular reactivity task, involving a complex mental subtracting exercise. The team measured the students' blood pressure and pulse rates at regular intervals throughout the experiment, finding that daytime sleep seemed to have a restorative effect:  students in the sleep condition reported lower scores of sleepiness, as compared to than those who did not sleep.

Although blood pressure and pulse rates rose in both groups between baseline and the stress phase, during the recovery phase, those who had napped had significantly lower average blood pressure readings than those who had not slept. These results show that sleeping between 45 and 60 minutes during the day appears to facilitate blood pressure recovery after a mental stress task in the laboratory.  But, a long nap or a nap taken too late in the day may adversely affect the length and quality of nighttime sleep. (If you have trouble sleeping at night, a nap will only amplify problems.)

They observed that: “These findings suggest daytime sleep may offer cardiovascular benefit in the form of greater cardiovascular recovery from psychological stress.”

Benefits of Napping

• Naps can restore alertness, enhance performance, 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%.
• Naps can increase alertness in the period directly following the nap and may extend alertness a few hours later in the day.
• Scheduled napping has also been prescribed for those who are affected by narcolepsy.
• Napping has psychological benefits. A nap can be a pleasant luxury, a mini-vacation. It can provide an easy way to get some relaxation and rejuvenation.

Stigmas of Napping

Napping is a beneficial way to relieve tiredness, but it still has stigmas associated with it:

• Napping indicates laziness, a lack of ambition, and low standards.
• Napping is only for children, the sick and the elderly.

Though the above statements are false, many segments of the public may still need to be educated on the benefits of napping.

You're probably thinking about ways to incorporate naps into your daily routine.  Keep in mind that getting enough sleep on regular basis is the best way to stay alert and feel your best.  But when fatigue sets in, a nap can do wonders for your mental and physical stamina.