Nap

Short evening sleep, longer midday napping may increase hypertension risk

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Middle-aged and older adults who sleep less than 6 hours per day and take longer midday naps are more likely to develop hypertension and CVD, with slight variations for men vs. women, researchers reported.

“Siesta is a prevalent lifestyle in many countries, including China, and according to the data from [the] Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 39.3% of Chinese adults aged 15 to 69 years take siesta regularly and the rate of siesta was the highest among people aged 60 to 69 years,” Ling Lin, MM, of the department of emergency nursing at Fujian Medical University Union Hospital in Fuzhou, China, and colleagues wrote in the study background. “Too long [a] siesta may decrease the sleep duration at night and affect the total sleep duration of people, indicating that the percentage of siesta in the total sleep duration may be associated with the risk of hypertension or CVD. Whether the ratio of siesta duration in the total sleep duration was associated with the occurrence of hypertension or CVD was still unclear.”

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Middle-aged and older adults who sleep less than 6 hours per day and take longer midday naps are more likely to develop hypertension and CVD, with slight variations for men vs. women.
Source: Adobe Stock

Longitudinal sleep data

Lin and colleagues analyzed data from 7,604 middle‐aged and older adults with sleep data and without hypertension or CVD at baseline, using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database, a nationally representative longitudinal survey conducted in mainland China between June 2011 and March 2012. Median follow-up was 6.5 years; participants were followed for up to 3 years with questionnaires, with follow-up discontinued when an outcome event (hypertension or CVD) was observed. Researchers assessed associations of siesta and siesta ratio with incidence of hypertension and CVD.

The findings were published in Clinical Cardiology.

At the end of follow-up, 2,075 participants had hypertension and 986 participants had CVD.

Researchers found that, compared with a sleep duration of 6 to 8 hours, total sleep duration of less than 6 hours was associated with increased risk for hypertension, with an OR of 1.168 (95% CI, 1.023-1.335). A siesta ratio of at least 0.4 was similarly associated with hypertension risk, with an OR of 1.712 (95% CI, 1.129-2.594).

Sex-based differences in sleep time, CV risk

Among men aged 60 years and older, a siesta ratio of at least 0.4 was associated with higher risk for hypertension, whereas a total sleep duration of less than 6 hours was correlated with elevated risk for hypertension in men younger than 60 years.

Participants with a siesta duration of less than 30 minutes were more likely to develop CVD (OR = 2.053; 95% CI, 1.323-3.185). Among women aged 60 years and older, a sleep duration of less than 6 hours at night was associated with increased risk of CVD, whereas a siesta duration of less than 30 minutes and sleep duration of less than 6 hours at night was associated with CVD risk among women younger than 60 years.

“A longer daytime nap may lead to the elevation of evening cortisol levels and then increase the blood pressure levels,” the researchers wrote. “A high ratio of siesta suggested a long duration of siesta and a shorter duration of the sleep at night. The mechanisms of these might be because a longer duration of siesta may result in insomnia or low quality of sleep at night. Increasing studies indicated that a better night sleep is essential for the health of people.”

The researchers noted that the findings might provide a reference for midday napping and total sleep duration in people aged 45 years and older and said longer sleep at night vs. midday napping may be recommended.

The findings follow similar research published in July in Hypertension. As Healio previously reported, adults who reported taking frequent daily naps had greater risk for essential hypertension and stroke compared with those who never or rarely nap, likely due to poor sleep at night.

This is What Happens to Your Brain When You Nap

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napping
Napping ChartThe stigma against napping is finally starting to wane — and for good reason. Taking a timeout to sleep during the day does much more than just give us a quick energy boost. It also confers some serious cognitive and health advantages as well. Here’s what the latest science tells us.

Unlike 85% of all mammalian species, humans sleep just once a day. Scientists aren’t sure if we’re naturally monophasic (as opposed to polyphasic) or if it’s modern society that has made us so. Regardless, it’s clear that we’re not getting enough sleep. Nearly a third of us say we’re simply not getting enough of it.
Power naps can alleviate our so-called sleep deficits, but they can also boost our brains, including improvements to creative problem solving, verbal memory, perceptual learning, object learning, and statistical learning. They help us with math, logical reasoning, our reaction times, and symbol recognition. Naps improve our mood and feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. Not only that, napping is good for our heart, blood pressure, stress levels, and surprisingly, even weight management.

 You might be surprised to find out the benefits of napping and it doesn’t take much. Yes, you read that right. Isn’t that great news, that from this day forth you can justify your actions whenever you want to take a short nap? We always get told that we need to go on diet, or we’re told to exercise more, but it’s not often that someone tells you to take a nap more often. Well, I have a great idea: Once you’ve finished reading this article, go take a nice nap. Trust me, once you’ve read about some of the benefits of napping, you’ll never feel guilty about going for a nap ever again.

 

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Take A Nap For The Sake Of Your Heart

In a study carried out in Greece, researchers found that adult males who took an afternoon nap at least three times per week were 37% less likely to die from a heart related disease compared to men who never take a short afternoon nap. Okay, so you may still have your doubts, but if these claims false, then why would NASA scientists be studying this as well?

In many countries, it is custom to have a nap (siesta) after lunch, and coincidentally, nearly all such countries have a very low rate of fatal heart attacks. On the other end of the scale we have countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. In these countries, heart attacks are the leading cause of death, and as most of us know, neither of these two societies advocate afternoon naps. In fact, taking a short nap in the afternoon could end up costing you your job.

Okay, so we now know that napping is beneficial in terms of heart health, but what are the other benefits of napping? There are several, but since the title of this article suggests that I’m going to discuss six benefits, so that’s what I’m going to do. Right, we have five more to cover; here they are:

1. Improved cognitive performance

2. Increased alertness

3. Improved memory

4. Improved relaxation

5. Stress reduction

 

“Napping is particularly great for alertness, learning, memory, and performance — and we’ve known this now for several decades.

 A groundbreaking NASA study from 1995 (pdf) looked at the beneficial effects of napping on 747 pilots. Each participant was allowed to nap for 40 minutes during the day, sleeping on average for 25.8 minutes (which is just about right). Nappers “demonstrated vigilance performance improvements from 16% in median reaction time to 34% in lapses compared to the No-Rest Group.”

Think that grabbing a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon does just as well? Think again.

A 2008 study showed that naps are better than caffeine when it comes to improving verbal memory, motor skills, and perceptual learning. Afternoon naps improved free recall memory compared to the caffeine group after both 20 minutes and seven hour intervals, while resulting in improved learning on physical tasks than caffeine. It should be noted, however, that the researchers had their participants nap between 60 and 90 minutes. A cup of joe might be a tad more efficient. But as noted in the study, caffeine has been known to impair motor sequence learning and declarative verbal memory. (1)”

Does The Length Of A Nap Affect The Benefits?

Yes and no. Even a short 20 minute nap in the afternoon can provide all the benefits of napping which have already been mentioned. However, the length of your nap will determine what sort of benefits you’re likely to experience. According to the WebMD napping can be broken up into different categories:

20 Minute Nap – While a short 20 minute power nap does enhance memory, it has a more dramatic effect on mental alertness and motor learning skills.

20 To 30 Minute Nap – This length of nap will typically enhance creativity while at the same time also boosting memory.

30 To 60 Minute Nap – This type of nap has an incredibly beneficial impact one’s decision making skills. It also improves the part of your memory that’s responsible for memorizing things such as the alphabet; directions and etc.

60 To 90 Minute Nap – Taking this type of nap will ensure that you get REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, and as such, this type of nap is the most beneficial of them all. Once you reach REM sleep, it’s almost as if the brain resets itself. One could say it’s like starting at the beginning again. Studies have shown that a 60 to 90 minute nap can have a dramatic effect on the brain in terms of problem solving. Here again, NASA has conducted their own studies, and they land up with the same result.

 When Napping Is Not A Good Idea

Napping is not a good idea for everyone. For example, when some people take a nap during the day, they then have difficulty falling asleep at night, and this in turn can eventually result in sleep deprivation. Other people feel great when they wake up in the morning after a long sleep, but if they take a short nap, they feel dazed and often have difficulty trying to concentrate. Lastly but not least, you might live in a culture where napping at work is frowned upon, in which case it could interfere with your career.

If you can nap during the day however, then I would certainly recommend that you do, but please don’t tell your boss it was me who told you about the fantastic benefits of napping.

Watch the video discussion. URL: https://youtu.be/MklZJprP5F0

 

Sources:

Healthy Holistic Living

Daytime naps ‘can boost learning’

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Getting young children to take an hour-long nap after lunch could help them with their learning by boosting brain power, a small study suggests.

A nap appeared to help three-to-five-year-olds better remember pre-school lessons, US researchers said.

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers studied 40 youngsters and report their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The benefit persisted in the afternoon after a nap and into the next day.

The study authors say their results suggest naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning.

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This is important, because pre-school nurseries are divided on whether they should allow their children a nap”

Paediatrician Dr Robert Scott-Jupp

When the children were allowed a siesta after lunch they performed significantly better on a visual-spatial tasks in the afternoon and the next day than when they were denied a midday snooze.

Following a nap, children recalled 10% more of the information they were being tested on than they did when they had been kept awake.

Close monitoring of 14 additional youngsters who came to the researchers’ sleep lab revealed the processes at work in the brain during asleep.

As the children napped, they experienced increased activity in brain regions linked with learning and integrating new information.

Memory aid

Lead investigator Rebecca Spencer said: “Essentially we are the first to report evidence that naps are important for preschool children.

“Our study shows that naps help the kids better remember what they are learning in preschool.”

She said while older children would naturally drop their daytime sleep, younger children should be encouraged to nap.

Dr Robert Scott-Jupp, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “It’s been known for years that having a short sleep can improve the mental performance of adults, for example doctors working night shifts. Up until now, no-one has looked at the same thing in toddlers. This is important, because pre-school nurseries are divided on whether they should allow their children a nap.

“Toddlers soak up a huge amount of information everyday as they become increasingly inquisitive about the world around them and begin to gain independence.

“To be at their most alert toddlers need about 11-13 hours of sleep a day, giving their active minds a chance to wind down and re-charge, ready for the day ahead. We now know that a daytime sleep could be as important as a nighttime one. Without it, they would be tired, grumpy, forgetful and would struggle to concentrate.”