Tuesday, February 13, 2007

An afternoon nap is good for the heart

I_love_nappingIt's official! An afternoon nap is good for the heart. This is great news for me - I often have a short nap after lunch, simply because I wake up so early in the morning (usually about 4.30 am) and, if I don't nap, I end up falling asleep on the sofa by 8 pm. A half hour nap in the afternoon means that I can manage to stay awake until around 10.30 pm and remain compos mentis right through to the end of whatever it is that I'm watching on TV. (I've lost count of the number of C.S.I. plots I've missed...)

Now, however, a greek study has shown that people who took a 30-minute siesta at least 3 times a week had a 37% lower risk of heart disease-related death. The researchers believe that napping, and its associated relaxing and unwinding, may reduce stress levels - which can only be good news for our overall health... Read the full BBC news story here

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