Shutterstock
Don’t give up that afternoon nap! New research has shown that taking a nap in the afternoon could reduce your overall risk of a heart attack. Well, sort of.
There are a few caveats to the research, so let’s take a look at napping, heart health and the science of sleep.
Science has shown that a lack of proper sleep speeds the process of atherosclerosis, which is a process by which your body’s arteries get plaque buildup. Getting enough sleep makes you 50% less likely to have this plaque buildup and, by extension, 50% less likely to have a heart attack.
However, napping isn’t the sole key to this: simply getting enough sleep is.
Scientists disagree a lot about sleep, its purpose, and its various functions. However, one of the main data points most scientists have come to agree on is that humans need about 8 hours of sleep per night. This is the number that has people wake up feeling most rested and is the best for our circadian rhythms and internal organs.
If you often get less than 8 hours of sleep, you probably get drowsy in the middle of the day and feel like a nap would be a good idea. Using a mid-day nap to cover the gap in your sleep is better than not getting that sleep in at all, though it’s best if you just get the eight hours of sleep all at once.
Keep in mind, once sleep is lost, it can’t be regained. Much like time marching on or youth fading away, missed sleep is forever missed. Naps can act as a stop-gap and a patch to help you feel less drowsy, and to counteract some of the negative effects of sleep loss, but they shouldn’t be your daily routine.
This is why so many medical professionals advise against working swing-shifts or shift work in general, as these jobs often cause highly disruptive sleep patterns. In turn, those who work shift work are more likely to drink sugary energy drinks and suffer atherosclerosis, making them that much more likely to have heart attacks.
