Naps Both Good & Bad? Studies Explain

Studies have proven that daytime sleep, or napping, is both linked to detrimental and beneficial effects.

Naps are now being given more importance. And as per TIME, with schools now reportedly putting in more importance on giving students chances of catching up on some z's, it would be good to listen to experts talk about naps and its effects on a person's well-being.

Dr. Manolis Kallistratos, a cardiologist at Asklepieion Voula General Hospital in Athens, Greece, said via EurekAlert! that midday naps are associated with reduced blood pressure levels.

"Μidday sleep is a habit that nowadays is almost a privilege due to a nine to five working culture and intense daily routine," said Kallistratos. "However the real question regarding this habit is: is it only a custom or is it also beneficial?"

His team evaluated the impact of daytime sleep on the blood pressure levels of hypertensive patients, measuring it in 386 middle-aged patients with arterial hypertension. Measured factors included time spent napping, BP, lifestyle habits, BMI and an ECG evaluation. After adjusting for other factors that may affect measurements, the researchers found that midday sleepers had an average of 5 percent lower BP levels than those who did not take naps. 

"Although the mean BP decrease seems low, it has to be mentioned that reductions as small as 2 mmHg in systolic blood pressure can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by up to 10 percent," said Kallistratos.

Even though the study has shown napping to be beneficial against high BP levels, another study has shown napping is linked to higher mortality rates.

TIME reports study author Yue Leng having said that "daytime napping is an early indicator of underlying ill health."

In the study, Leng and associates evaluated responses from 16,374 people who answered questionnaires regarding their napping habits between the 1998 and 2000. During the 13-year follow-up, 3,251 died, and it has been concluded that napping habits for one hour or more per day was associated with a 32-percent increase in the risk of mortality.

Though that may be confusing, Dr. Sara Mednick, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, says "first of all, it's important to ask yourself why you're taking the nap." Mednick is the author of "Take a Nap! Change Your Life." She said that if you are sleepy for a big part of the day, chances are your sleepiness may be driven by stress, insomnia or a number of other sleep-disrupting conditions.

Mednick also said that naps are good for people. "Ninety minutes affords you all of the different sleep stages shown to be important for cognition, memorization, creativity, basic motor skills and the ability to make decisions in a clever way," she said.