Could napping help you avoid heart attack and stroke? Researchers thought so -- although a new study published in the British Medical Journal says too many naps per week are a bad idea when it comes to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Could napping help you avoid heart attack and stroke? Researchers thought so -- although a new study published in the British Medical Journal says too many naps per week are a bad idea when it comes to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
More than 3,000 people studied by the University of Lausanne in Switzerland were grouped based on the number of naps they reported taking every week. Most never napped, some said they napped one or two times weekly, and others termed “frequent nappers” took a snooze three or more times per week. Those with the fewest heart attacks? They were the one to two times weekly nappers. Second place went to the group who never took naps. People who napped nearly every day had the most heart attacks and strokes during the study period.
Both heart attack and stroke are caused by cardiovascular disease, also called heart disease, when plaques slowly build up in the vessels supplying blood to the heart, eventually blocking blood flow or causing clots.
But napping research isn’t new. Other studies have revealed that Greeks, who boast some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, had a lower risk of death from heart attack if they reported napping. Yet research had only compared nappers versus non-nappers, never considering how many naps people were taking each week.