February 23, 2007 – Who hasn’t dreamed of taking a nap at work? Here are some arguments to convince your employer to give it a try. A nap would help reduce the risk of dying from coronary heart disease. The effect would be particularly marked in working men.
These results are taken from a large cohort study carried out in Greece with 23,681 normal subjects followed for more than six years.1. The researchers found that the risk was reduced by 37% in people who took a nap daily and by 12% in those who did so on an occasional basis.
The authors were unable to assess the effect of the nap in working women because of the low female mortality rate in the cohort studied. According to the Dr Dimitrios Trichopoulos, who supervised the team of researchers, “It is likely that the nap has similar beneficial effects in women as well as in men.”
Researchers believe that the habit of napping during the workday may help counter the effects of stress on workers, which may explain the observed reduction in the death rate from coronary heart disease.
Previous studies had shown mixed results on the effects of napping on the death rate. Some results even indicated that the habit of napping may be associated with an increased death rate.2-4.
The Dr Trichopoulos maintains that these studies were carried out on elderly subjects suffering from coronary heart disease or other illnesses. However, we know that daytime sleepiness is common in the elderly suffering from cardiovascular or coronary disorders.5, which could have skewed the results of the studies.
The size of the Greek study cohort and the care taken by the researchers to weigh the possible distorting factors would give a better idea of the effects of the nap on the population as a whole. The results obtained encourage the Dr Trichopoulos to give the following advice: “If you have a sofa in your workplace, go ahead, take a nap.” »Convinced? Now you have to convince your employer!
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to BBC and Associated Press.
1. Naska A, Oikonomou E, et al. Siesta in healthy adults and coronary mortality in the general population. Arch Intern Med. 2007 Feb 12; 167 (3): 296-301.
2. Burazeri G, Gofin J, Kark JD. Siesta and mortality in a Mediterranean population: a community study in Jerusalem. Sleep. 2003 Aug 1; 26 (5): 578-84.
3. Bursztyn M, Stessman J. The siesta and mortality: twelve years of prospective observations in 70-year-olds. Sleep. 2005 Mar 1; 28 (3): 345-7.
4. Bursztyn M, Ginsberg G, Stessman J. The siesta and mortality in the elderly: effect of rest without sleep and daytime sleep duration. Sleep. 2002 Mar 15; 25 (2): 187-91.
5. Newman AB, Spiekerman CF, et al. Cardiovascular Health Study Research Group. Daytime sleepiness predicts mortality and cardiovascular disease in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2000; 48: 115-123.
