I need a nap

Harvard University’s School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School released a startling study that should make us all wake up to the importance of SLEEP…ready?

Midday napping (siestas) reduced coronary mortality by about one third among men and women. The study appears in the February 12, 2007 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.

How’s that for a reason to get some well needed Zzz’s? In a nutshell, the researchers looked at 23,681 individuals living in Greece who, at the beginning of the study, had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer. The researchers then followed these people for 6 years. The researchers found that study participants who took regular naps, which they defined as napping at least three times per week for an average of 30 minutes, had a 37% lower coronary mortality than the participants who did not take naps. The effect was strongest among working men and weaker among retired men. Curiously, among working women there were too few death to be significant (perhaps women have much better work like balance than everyone thinks!). The researchers aren’t sure why napping three times per week for 30 minutes at a time has this effect but it may be related to being a sort of release valve for stressors in the body.

So, next time you want a health boost take a snooze. Being well rested may be this centuries secret miracle potion and it’s most sought after commodity.

(You can check out the press release at the Harvard School for Public Health at their web site HERE. You can see the original study by visiting the Archives of Internal Medecine by clicking HERE).