Surrendering to the arms of Morpheus and napping regularly may be the key to having a healthy and larger brain for longer.
That was the conclusion of a research from the University College of London (UCL) that showed that those people who napped had a brain 15 cubic centimeters larger, which is equivalent to delaying their aging between three and six years.
The key, the scientists note, is naps lasting less than half an hour.
“We are suggesting that everyone could potentially experience some benefit from napping,” Dr. Victoria Garfield told the BBC, who described the results as “quite novel and exciting.”
The problem, they say, comes with the work culture of modern society where the practice is often frowned upon, making it virtually impossible for people to sleep during the day.
From birth
Napping is essential for the development of babies, but it becomes less common as we get older.
However, its popularity resurfaces after retirement: 27% of people over the age of 65 say they nap.
For Dr. Garfield, people should take the advice to nap seriously because it is “a fairly easy thing” to do compared to weight loss or exercise, which is often more “difficult for a lot of people”.
While napping may slow the shrinking of the brain as it naturally happens with age, its role in helping to prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s is unclear.
Overall brain health is important in protecting against dementia, and dementia is linked to sleep disorders.
Researchers suggest that poor sleep damages the brain over time by causing inflammation and affecting the connections between brain cells.
Taking this link into account, Uruguayan researcher Valentina Paz, from UCL’s RCM Unit for Health and Aging, believes that “regular napping could protect against neurodegeneration by compensating for poor sleep.”
However, Dr. Garfield believes that it’s not simply a matter of finding a comfortable place to nap at work, so she prefers to opt for other ways to take care of her brain.
“Honestly, I’d rather spend 30 minutes exercising than napping. That said, it’s something I’ll probably try and recommend my mother to do,” the doctor acknowledged.
How to find the answer?
Studying napping can be quite a challenge for scientists.
On the one hand it can improve health, but on the other hand it is also true that it can leave us so tired that we need more sleep.
So researchers used a novel technique to show that napping is beneficial based on the DNA – the genetic code – we are born with.
Previous studies have identified 97 fragments of our DNA that make us more likely to nap or go through the day with more energy.
The team took data from 35,000 people aged between 40 and 69 as part of the Biobank project in the UK and compared “nappers” with “non-sleepers.”
The results, published in the journal Sleep Health, showed a difference of 15 cubic centimeters, equivalent to between 2.6 and 6.5 years of aging.
In the study, total brain volumes were about 1,480 cubic centimeters.
“I like short naps on weekends and this study has convinced me that I shouldn’t feel lazy napping. It may even be protecting my brain,” Professor Tara Spires-Jones, of the University of Edinburgh and president of the British Neuroscience Association, told the BBC.
Spires-Jones said the study results show a “small but significant increase in brain volume,” adding to other research indicating the importance of sleep for brain health.
Although it is important to reiterate that the study is not based on long naps, but rather those lasting no more than half an hour.