Napping may not be a healthy habit.

Many studies have underscored the value of sleep.

Although one may be led to believe any sleep is good sleep, this is apparently inaccurate.

The quality, type, and timing of sleep are important factors.

According to a recent Money Talks News article titled “Love to Nap? You May Have This Hidden Health Risk,” naps may be the wrong type of sleep.

Napping frequently may be an indicator of poor sleep quality and related health concerns.

In fact, napping has been shown to have negative health correlations.

A recent study published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension was conducted by researchers in China who analyzed the records of about 360,000 people from the UK Biobank biomedical database.

The records analyzed were for individuals who were surveyed periodically about their napping habits from 2006 to 2019.

The survey respondents were asked to identify whether they napped “rarely/never,” “sometimes,” and “usually”.

What did the researchers find from these survey results?

Those who frequently nap during the day have a 24 percent greater risk of having a stroke and a 12 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure than those who do not take naps.

For subjects ages 60 and older, those who identified themselves as “usually” napping had a 10 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure than those who identified as “never/rarely” napping.

For those under age 60, the risk was 20 percent greater for those who identified as “usually” napping.

In short, those who napped more had a higher risk of high blood pressure than those who napped less or did not nap at all — regardless of age.

Yikes!

Is napping really such a significant problem?

Michael A. Grandner may be able to provide a little insight.

As the director of the Sleep Health Research Program and the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the University of Arizona in Tucson, he was able to provide some commentary on the study in an American Heart Association publication.

According to Grandner, napping may not cause health problems but could be a symptom of other health issues.

People tend to nap more when they get poor quality and length of sleep at night.

Many health factors are associated with affecting sleep quality.

While the research provides interesting correlational data on napping and heart health, more research is certainly necessary.

Reference: Money Talks News (July 27, 2022) “Love to Nap? You May Have This Hidden Health Risk”