😴 Daytime Naps Are Good For Your Brain
Daytime napping might slow down the rate of brain shrinkage as we age.
Health Squeeze
June 23, 2023
A new study published in the journal Sleep Health suggests that daytime napping is beneficial for overall brain health, slowing down the rate of brain shrinkage as we age.
It found a correlation between habitual napping and larger total brain volume, a marker of good brain health linked to a lower risk of diseases like dementia.
The research analyzed data from people aged 40 to 69 and aimed to establish a causal relationship between daytime napping and brain health. Scientists looked at 97 snippets of DNA that determine the likelihood of habitual napping among people.
They compared the brain health and cognition of people more genetically programmed to nap with those who didn't have these genetic variants, using data from 378,932 people from the UK Biobank study. The study found that people programmed to nap had a larger total brain volume.
The team estimated that the average difference in brain volume between people programmed to be habitual nappers and those who were not was equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years of aging.
However, no significant difference was found in three other measures of brain health and cognitive function - hippocampal volume, reaction time, and visual processing - between those programmed to be habitual nappers and their counterparts.
While the researchers did not have information on nap duration, earlier studies suggest that naps of 30 minutes or less provide the best short-term cognitive benefits, and napping earlier in the day is less likely to disrupt night-time sleep.