From Time Magazine, "The Year in Medicine From A to Z"
Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007"Snoozing cats may lose an awful lot of their day to sack time, but they may be on to something. A Greek study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine this year showed that people who nap at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes are 37% less likely to die from heart disease. Another study, published in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, provided a possible reason: blood pressure eases in the time just before sleep. The coronary value of a siesta, however, is still questionable. Researchers have yet to explore whether blood pressure rises upon waking from a nap. Snoozing certainly isn't a guarantee against getting heart disease, but the studies do provide an excuse for half an hour of downtime."
Why couldn't they just say it: Naps are good for you. Are they afraid their own staff might start snoozing on the job? Probably so.
And yes, your blood pressure does gradually return to waking levels after a nap, but so what? Those 30 minutes spent in sleep bring us to a hypometabolic state that lowers not only blood pressure, but muscle tone, oxygen consumption, and cerebral processing rate, and provides a lasting reduction our levels of the stress hormone cortisol. That brief respite from the stress of life is highly restorative. And it's a proven aid to learning and memory. So by all means, nap!
Image: Hypnos and Thanatos, "Sleep and His Half-Brother Death" by John William Waterhouse.
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