Could napping be just as good for your heart as eating right and staying physically active?

A study of nearly 24,000 people found that those who regularly took midday naps were nearly 40% less likely to die from heart disease than non-nappers.

Researchers suggest that siestas might protect the heart by lowering levels of stress hormones. After controlling for risk factors such as diet and physical activity, researchers found that people who took at least three naps per week lasting 30 minutes or longer had a 37% reduced risk of death from heart disease than their non-napping counterparts.

“If the finding holds true, that’s an amazing discovery,” comments Rajiv Dhand, a researcher at the University of Missouri–Columbia in Missouri, US, who was not involved in the study. The results suggest that taking naps might be just as important to protecting the heart as other measures, he says, including eating right and taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.

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