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posted by janrinok on Sunday September 15 2019, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the gets-back-under-duvet-regardless dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Once or twice weekly daytime nap linked to lower heart attack/stroke risk: But no such association found for greater frequency or duration of naps

The impact of napping on heart health has been hotly contested. Many of the published studies on the topic have failed to consider napping frequency, or focused purely on cardiovascular disease deaths, or compared regular nappers with those not opting for a mini siesta, say the researchers.

In a bid to try and address these issues, they looked at the association between napping frequency and average nap duration and the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease 'events,' such as heart attack, stroke, or heart failure, among 3462 randomly selected residents of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Each participant was aged between 35 and 75, when recruited between 2003 and 2006 to the CoLaus study. This has been looking at the factors behind the development of cardiovascular disease. Participants' first check-up took place between 2009 and 2012, when information on their sleep and nap patterns in the previous week was collected, and their health was then subsequently monitored for an average of 5 years.

Over half (58%, 2014) of the participants said they didn't nap during the previous week; around one in five (19%, 667) said they took one to two naps; around one in 10 (12%, 411) said they took three to five; while a similar proportion (11%, 370) said they took six to seven.

Frequent nappers (3-7 naps a week) tended to be older, male, smokers, weigh more, and to sleep for longer at night than those who said they didn't nap during the day. And they reported more daytime sleepiness and more severe obstructive sleep apnea -- a condition in which the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing.

During the monitoring period, there were 155 fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease 'events'.

Occasional napping, once to twice weekly, was associated with an almost halving in attack/stroke/heart failure risk (48%) compared with those who didn't nap at all.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by number11 on Monday September 16 2019, @12:28AM (2 children)

    by number11 (1170) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 16 2019, @12:28AM (#894458)

    So the ones who were older, male, smokers, overweight or had sleep apnea took a lot of naps, and were more likely to die. No shit, Sherlock, all of those things are contraindicated for long lifespan. But I strongly doubt that taking fewer naps would have made them live longer. Sounds like being unhealthy leads to more naps, and death. The non-nappers probably included the Type A personalities, who aren't going to waste their time on naps, and they also were more likely to die.

    From the article:

    the 67% heightened cardiovascular risk initially observed for frequent nappers virtually disappeared after taking account of potentially influential factors.

    So don't worry if you take naps. Worry if you have those other risk factors.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 16 2019, @04:08PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 16 2019, @04:08PM (#894660)

    This is what your tax dollars pay for. About $30 billion per year of this junk plus immense suffering of animals to go along with it.

    • (Score: 2) by number11 on Thursday September 19 2019, @09:20PM

      by number11 (1170) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 19 2019, @09:20PM (#896261)

      About $30 billion per year of this junk plus immense suffering of animals to go along with it.

      Hey, don't go calling UK citizens animals. Well, aside from the football (soccer) hooligans and Nigel and Boris. But it's good of you to volunteer to substitute for the real guinea pigs.