2023-04-27 16:13:16
Time.news – A short nap every day, anap energy’ of less than half an hour, decreases the risk of obesity and metabolic alterations. This is what emerges from a study by researchers of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, founding member of the Mass General Brigham health system, conducted on more than 3,000 adults of a Mediterranean population.
The researchers examined the relationship between thesiesta‘ and its duration with obesity and metabolic syndrome and found that napping longer than 30 minutes is more likely to have a higher body mass index, a blood pressure highest and a group of other conditions associated with heart disease e diabetes (metabolic syndrome) compared to those who do not have the habit of taking a nap. However, those who practice the short siesta do not have an increased risk of obesity and metabolic alterations. The results of the survey are published on Obesity.
“Not all siestas are created equal. Length of time, sleeping position and other specific factors can influence the health outcomes of a nap,” explained the senior author, Marta GarauletPhD, a visiting professor presso la Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders presso il Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“A previous study we conducted in a large study population in the UK found that siestas were associated with an increased risk of obesity. We wanted to determine if this would be true in a country where the siesta is more culturally rooted, in this case the Spain, as well as the duration of the siesta is related to metabolic health. Obesity is a growing health problem affecting over one billion people worldwide. The accumulation of fat in the body is related to the way food is digested during metabolic processes. Understanding how lifestyle choices, such as taking a siesta, affect these metabolic mechanisms could help researchers understand how habits affect health.”
The researchers looked at data from 3,275 adults in one Mediterranean population, especially people from the Spanish region of Murcia. Baseline metabolic characteristics were measured for the participants at the University of Murcia, and a siesta survey gleaned further details about their naps and other lifestyle factors.
This led to the categories of no siesta, shorter than 30 minutes, and longer than 30 minutes. The research team found that those who napped long had a higher body mass index and were more likely to have metabolic syndrome (MetS) than those who didn’t nap.
Furthermore, compared to the group without siesta, the group with long siesta had higher values of waist circumference, levels of glucose fasting, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure.
The researchers found that long siestas were associated with late-night sleep and food, with higher energy intake from lunch and cigarette smoking, and with the location of siestas (a bed versus a sofa), which could explain the increased risks associated with longer siestas.
Although this is an observational study and it is possible that some factors may be a consequence of obesity and not napping per se, previous studies have indicated a causal relationship between napping and obesity, particularly with abdominal obesity.
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