According to one study, if you’re 60 or older, taking a quick nap in the afternoon can really have a number of benefits when it comes to overall mental alertness. A new survey of General Psychiatry suggests that an afternoon nap could “be associated with better locational awareness, verbal fluency and working memory” compared to those over 60 who do not usually attend a briefing nap.
While the news is great for our parents, it does less for us, Generation X workaholics who just want to go to bed after a particularly heavy lunch. In fact, we would give anything to have a chance to justify the post-lunch nap, anafter a heavy lunch and a night without eating enough to sleep, a short time to catch up on those elusive ZZZs is often the balm that many people need to re-energize for the rest of the day. But, did you know that napping can be a healthy practice, especially when you get older?
The observational study examined sleep patterns among 2,214 healthy people over 60 who live in Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. Of these participants, 1,534 dozed off regularly, while 680 did not, and all participated in health and cognition questionnaire assessments, including dementia tests. Participants had an average of 6.5 hours of sleep each night and their naps were defined as ranging from 5 minutes to 2 consecutive hours to sleep Time.
The study found that those who dozed off performed significantly better on cognitive tests. The researchers theorized that one of the reasons naps performed better than non-naps was that sleep plays an important role in keeping the body’s immune response in check, so taking a nap can help fight inflammation. midday. In addition, it suggests that those who always want to nap in the afternoon may already be experiencing higher levels of inflammation.
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But these findings are not necessarily conclusive. Before you go and schedule a 30-minute nap at each lunch break, it’s important to note that there are some limitations to the study. On the one hand, participants did not seem to be getting enough sleep at night, averaging just 6.5 hours of to sleep. Sutapa Mukherjee, a sleep and respiratory doctor and elected president of the Australasian Sleep Association, said: “Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to feel rested,” adding, “So, in my opinion, it does sense that people who take a nap in the afternoon performed better in some of their cognitive tests, because this is a population of people with sleep restriction ”, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Sharon Naismith, a neuropsychologist at the University of Sydney, suggested that the study’s reliance on questionnaires versus sleep monitors could also be limiting.
Naismith concludes: “But having said that, it is a very interesting topic, so it is good to have a little more research in one way or another that looks at large groups of people who sleep.” While the study is definitely not suggesting that everyone over 60 needs a nap, it could mean that it can be useful in combating cognitive decline as you get older, especially if you find that you are not getting enough sleep at night.
