Improve Production With Sleep

An afternoon nap can help slim your waist and improve your sex life, health and work performance. That's the suggestion made in a new book by Harvard University scientist and sleep expert Dr Sara Mednick. Mednick, a psychologist and research scientist, describes taking a regular nap as a "lifesaving habit" - and there's plenty of evidence to support her claims.
A six-year Greek study published this year showed how having a midday snooze could help prevent heart disease.

People who had 30-minute naps at least three times a week had a 37 per cent lower chance of a heart attack, said Dr Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the lead researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health. It is thought napping triggers the release of the sleep hormones that act as an antidote to stress - a risk factor for heart disease. Mednick said nappers also made fewer mistakes and had increased brain power.

In some of her research she compared the effects of napping to drinking caffeine. One group of people took a 90-minute nap, another consumed 200mg of caffeine (the amount in a regular mug of coffee), and a control group took a placebo. The coffee drinkers performed much worse than the placebo group, while the nappers performed best of all. She said her findings tied in with studies showing that the brain needed sleep to incorporate newly learned skills into memory.

Studies by NASA have also shown that alertness can double after a brief nap, even in well-rested people. NASA also found average work productivity increased 13 per cent among nappers. But, while naps benefit everyone, it is the over-tired and chronically fatigued who are likely to get the most out of a catch-up nap. Mednick's research was inspired by Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy, both of whom had regular naps. Winston Churchill attributed winning the Battle of Britain partly to his naps, while Leonardo da Vinci also believed napping helped his work.