A Nap a Day May Keep Dementia Away: Study Links Napping With Better Brain Health by Jacob Teitelbaum
Note: 30Seconds is a participant in affiliate advertising programs and this post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission or fees if you make a purchase via those links.
Don’t eschew the daytime siesta – it may save your brain! A study based on data from the UK Biobank and published in Sleep Health, a journal of the National Sleep Foundation, found that habitual daytime napping was associated with larger total brain volume.
In the study, regular daytime napping was linked to greater brain volume. Specifically, those who are genetically prone to napping were found to have approximately 15 percent larger brain volumes. Maintaining healthy brain volume is the opposite of what happens when a person suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, where brain atrophy is commonly widespread, causing significant loss of brain volume.
According to the Postgraduate Medical Journal, “the volume of the brain and/or its weight generally declines with age at a rate of around 5 percent per decade after age 40 with the actual rate of decline possibly increasing with age, particularly over age 70.”
Habitual daily napping makes good sense for keeping the brain healthy – ounce for ounce. Infants nap regularly since their brains are in developmental overdrive. At the other end of the spectrum, elderly people tend to nap, perhaps as a natural protection against brain decline.
The perennial challenge in treating patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), its painful cousin fibromyalgia, and long COVID is that they don’t sleep well and therefore have trouble healing. In fact, the hallmark of CFS is exhaustion accompanied by severe insomnia, which throws a wrench into the healing process. You need restful sleep to enable the body to heal.
The napping study underscores the importance of sleep any way you can get it.
Note: 30Seconds is a participant in the Amazon affiliate advertising program and this post contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission or fees if you make a purchase via those links. The content on 30Seconds.com is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be considered medical advice. The information on this site should not be used to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease, and is not a substitute for professional care. Always consult your personal healthcare provider. The opinions or views expressed on 30Seconds.com do not necessarily represent those of 30Seconds or any of its employees, corporate partners or affiliates.
Take 30 seconds and join the 30Seconds community, and follow us on Facebook to get inspiration in your newsfeed daily. Inspire and be inspired.
30Second Mobile, Inc. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Related Products on Amazon We Think You May Like:
join discussion