Is having an afternoon nap good for you?

By Dr Peter Venn

A new study from University College Hospital, London, published in Sleep Health, suggests that having an afternoon nap may reduce shrinkage in the brain volume in elderly people, and maintain intellectual performance. The group carefully selected people to study who had a genetic predisposition to napping in the afternoon, thereby avoiding including people who napped due to other medical conditions. The data concludes that napping is good in terms of brain function as we age. 

And this isn't the first time that napping has been suggested as being good! In 2021, Sky News quoted a study in the Journal of Psychiatry reporting that afternoon napping maintained memory and intellectual function.

However, a contrasting study published in the American Heart Journal in 2022 found daytime that it was associated with cardiovascular disease and stroke. 

"A higher percentage of frequent nappers were men, had lower education and income levels, and reported cigarette smoking, daily drinking, insomnia, snoring and being an evening person[ality]” the authors reported.

The second study probably shows what are known as 'confounding factors' that are contributing to a worse outcome, whilst the first study gives "cleaner" data from the type of patient selection. The second study seems to imply that lower education, income levels and cigarette smoking are all contributing to cardiovascular disease, which is not entirely surprising.

I am a firm believer in having a sit down after lunch and a brief nod off and, if the chance is there, I think one should take it!