Good News Slackers:

Naps Might Cut Risk Of Heart Problems

SOUTHINGTON — A local company is hoping to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease and stress-related illness among its employees by encouraging them to lay down on the job.

Yarde Metals, a metals distributing firm, built a nap room at its Southington headquarters as part of an employee wellness program. With two leather sofas, fluffy pillows, soft lighting and an alarm clock, it is the perfect place for a quick snooze, engineer Mark Ekenbarger said.

Mr Ekenbarger, 56, has an enlarged heart artery and said he frequently takes half-hour naps on the advice of his doctor to reduce stress.

“It really does energize me for the rest of the day,” Mr Ekenbarger said. “It would be really encouraging if employers across the country really embraced that philosophy that napping is a good thing. It makes a big difference in my life.”

New research on napping provides the perfect excuse for office slackers, or anyone else interested in possibly enhancing their own health, finding that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men.

In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping, researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. Those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap.

Most participants were in their 50s, and the strongest evidence was in working men, according to the study, which appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers said naps might benefit the heart by reducing stress, and jobs are a common source of stress.

Some offices allow on-the-job naps, and many workers say it makes them more, not less, productive.

It is likely that women reap similar benefits from napping, but not enough of them died during the study to be sure, said Dr Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the study’s senior author and a researcher at Harvard University and the University of Athens Medical School.

Heart problems killed 48 women who were studied, six of them working women, compared with 85 men, including 28 working men.

A daytime siesta has long been part of many cultures, especially those in warmer climates. Mediterranean-style eating habits featuring fruits, vegetables, beans, and olive oil have been credited with contributing to relatively low rates of heart disease in those countries, but the researchers wanted to see if napping also plays a role.

“My advice is if you can [nap], do it. If you have a sofa in your office, if you can relax, do it,” Dr Trichopoulos said.

Exactly how stress is related to heart disease is uncertain. Some researchers think it might be directly involved, through unhealthy effects of stress hormones, or indirectly by causing people to exercise less, overeat, or smoke.

The researchers in the latest study factored in diet, exercise, smoking, and other habits that affect the heart but still found napping seemed to help.

Previous studies have had conflicting results. Some suggested napping might increase risk of death, but those mostly involved elderly people whose daytime sleepiness reflected poor health, Dr Trichopoulos said.

His research team studied a broader range of people, ages 20 to 86, who were generally healthy when the study began.

Still, it is possible that study participants who napped “are just people who take better care of themselves,” which could also benefit the heart, said Dr Marvin Wooten, a sleep specialist at Columbia St Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wis.

“The guy ... who doesn’t take time out for a siesta in their culture is probably the guy who is extremely driven and under a lot of pressure,” which could increase heart risks, he said.

Siestas are not ingrained in U. culture, and napping usually is equated with laziness in the high-charging corporate world, said Bill Anthony, a Boston University psychologist and co-author of The Art of Napping at Work.

“Workplace napping is a natural, no-cost way to increase worker productivity,” Mr Anthony says.

In a previous book, The Art of Napping, Mr Anthony and Camille W. Anthony, MEd explained that some of history’s most important figures, including Napoleon, President Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison (and many more), were all productive nappers.

Their new book describes the “seven habits of highly effective workplace nappers,” and identifies “some worker groups that are already employing productivity napping. Pilots, salespeople, firefighters, the military, shift workers, truckers, etc, are finally going public about the benefits of napping to energize, focus, and enhance job performance.”

While many companies have not realized the power of napping, the authors say, “There are, however, a few companies that are nap friendly and we will provide examples of how some firms are trying to make it easier for employees to nap. Nap tents, nap rooms, and what we somnolently call ‘napnasiums’ are finding their way into some companies. The CEO of one company currently has architects designing nap lounges into two new facilities that his very successful and expanding company is building.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.