Midlife Health Tip: Take a Nap

You might think that naps are for the very old or the very young. Even more to the point, you might wonder how to fit a nap into our frenzied, over-scheduled modern lifestyles. We can't help you with the second point but with regard to the first, a regular mid-day nap at least 3 times a week lowered their risk of heart-related deaths by 37%. Interestingly, duration of the nap proved to be only a minor factor. (source: BBC).

It is commonly known that countries where siestas are common tend to have lower levels of heart disease though other factors (notably diet) may also be at play.

As for how napping itself might reduce heart-related deaths, experts believe that napping might help people to relax thereby reducing their stress levels--a known contributor to heart-related issues. Furthermore,people who felt stressed might be also tempted to engage in less healthy behaviors such as smoking, eating a poor diet, drinking too much alcohol and not getting enough exercise. These behaviors, combined with stress, could easily account for the findings.

Sadly, for couch potatoes that is, health experts reviewing the data noted that people should not reduce the amount of physical activity they did in the rest of the day. In other words, napping is good but not at the expense of physical activity. Ideally one does both on a regular basis.

h/t: Contemporary Retirement.