In a recent investigation of University College London (UCL), those who nap were shown to have brains 15 cubic centimeters larger, which is equivalent to delay aging between three and six years. In this sense, the report warns that the key is that the naps last less than half an hour.
General brain health is important to protect you against diseases such as dementia, which is related to sleep disorders. The researchers suggest that poor sleep damages the brain, causing inflammation over time and affecting the connections between brain cells.
The researchers used a novel technique to show that Napping is beneficial based on DNA. Previous studies have identified 97 snippets of the genetic code that show how likely people are to nap or go through the day with more energy. In the analysis, a team took data from 35,000 people between the ages of 40 and 69 as part of Biobank project in UK and compared to the “sleepyheads” with the “not sleepyheads”.
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 experiment, the total brain volumes were about 1,480 cubic centimeters. “This study has convinced me that I shouldn’t feel bad napping. It may even be protecting my brain. The results show a small but significant increase in brain volume,” the professor told the BBC. Tara Spiers-Jonesof the University of Edinburgh and president of the British Neuroscience Association.
“The main benefit of short naps is that they counteract the physiological effects that occur in the body from the moment we wake up,” he explained. Guy Meadows, specialist in sleep physiology and co-founder of The Sleep School, to the British medium. From the moment we wake up, “adenosine, a chemical in the brain that is a byproduct of metabolism, begins to rise.”
“The longer you stay awake, the more adenosine builds up in your brain, and therefore the feeling of sleepiness increases,” Meadows said, adding: “When we take a nap, we reduce adenosine, we metabolize a little bit of this substance in our system , and that helps us increase our energy levels and feel more alert and awake.”
This habit helps “to improve our mood, to react more quickly, to reduce the possibility of making mistakes and to focus and pay more attention to what we have to do in the afternoon.” The benefits highlighted by Meadows refer specifically to those provided by short naps (called in English power naps), whose duration should range between 10 and 30 minutes.
In the longest naps, between 60 and 90 minutes, we enter the REM phase (also called MORacronym in Spanish for rapid eye movements), and that deep sleep is “the same type of sleep we have at night and therefore carries the same benefits,” says the English scientist Sarah Mednickwho for more than 20 years has been dedicated to investigating the effects of sleep.
“If you practice sleeping at the same time every day, your body will incorporate the habit of associating that activity with a specific time,” say the specialists. In this sense, they suggest that the important thing is not to force yourself to sleep, but simply to settle into the bed, an armchair or a place that is comfortable for us, darken the room or cover the eyes, and try to take advantage of that moment to be still and rest
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