Is taking naps good for your heart?

HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

February 12, 2007
 Boston, MA -- Is taking naps good for your heart? New research from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Athens Medical School (UAMS) in Greece suggests that the answer may be yes. In a new large, prospective study, researchers found that midday napping (siestas) reduced coronary mortality by about one third among men and women. The study appears in the February 12, 2007 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers, led by lead author Androniki Naska, lecturer of hygiene and epidemiology in UAMS, and senior author Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer prevention and epidemiology at HSPH, looked at 23,681 individuals living in Greece who, at the beginning of the study, had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer. The study participants were followed for an average of 6.3 years. Siestas are common in the Mediterranean region and several Latin American countries and those countries also tend to have low mortality rates of coronary heart disease.

http://archive.sph.harvard.edu/press-releases/2007-releases/press02122007.html