Do you like to sleep during the day? Check your health!
Many of us, especially those who practice night wakefulness, like to take a nap in the daytime. In many southern countries, it is believed that daytime sleep – the so–called siesta - relieves stress well. However, researchers at the University of Cambridge claim that a feeling of fatigue and a desire to sleep in the middle of the day is a sign of health problems – in any case, for residents of foggy Albion, who do not need to wait out the heat in the middle of the day.
As a rule, the duration of daytime sleep determines the state after waking up, which can vary from complete "exhaustion" to pronounced vigor. Most experts are inclined to believe that the duration of daytime sleep should not exceed 30 minutes, as this excludes the transition of the body into the phase of deep sleep. However, new data suggest that a daily nap lasting more than an hour is associated with a 32% increased risk of premature death.
The authors came to these conclusions based on the results of data analysis collected as part of a 13-year prospective cohort study (European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk), which involved more than 25,000 men and women aged 40 to 79 years. As part of the study, 16,000 participants answered questions about daytime sleep and were divided into sleepers of less than and more than an hour. Participants who do not have the habit of sleeping during the day acted as a control group.
Processing of the results of a 13-year follow-up showed that regular daytime sleep for an hour or more is associated with an increased risk of premature death from various causes, including heart disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases, for which the association was most pronounced. These patterns persisted even after adjustments were made for age, gender, social class, level of education, employment, body mass index, level of physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, tendency to depression, taking medications, duration of night sleep and diseases that were present at the time of the study.
The authors note that the study does not confirm the existence of a causal relationship between prolonged daytime sleep and mortality, the hidden causes of which, most likely, are not noted by the participants and are not registered in their medical histories. Most likely, in most cases, there is nothing wrong with daytime sleep, but if you catch yourself wanting to lie down and rest in the daytime every day, it is quite possible that it's time to pay attention to your health.
Article by Leng Y et al. Daytime Napping and the Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A 13-Year Follow-up of a British Population is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Medical Daily:
Daytime Napping May Lead to An Early Death; But It's Most Likely A Sign Of Something More Serious.
24.04.2014