Pile: instructions for use

My fellow sleep professionals and I are campaigning to rehabilitate daytime naps and show that napping is an excellent and respectable sleep management strategy. They can make you smarter, faster and more confident than without them. They should be widely regarded as powerful weapons in the fight against fatigue, and the person who chooses to take a nap should be recognized as a hero.

With these enthusiastic words, Willian S. Dement (1928–2020), one of the American pioneers of sleep medicine research, extolled the virtues of daytime sleep in his book. promise in a dream (2000). Is he worth listening to, or is he exaggerating? Are they always recommended? But before we get into the question, let’s remember the cultural origins of this custom.

sixth hour break

Word click comes from the Latin word sixth: The Romans stopped to eat and rest at the sixth hour of the day, during the twelve hours into which they divided the light period. In Spain, it started at 13:00 in Tarraco (now Tarragona) and at 13:30 in Caesaragusta (Zaragoza) when it was winter. In summer it started at 14:30 in Lucus Augusti (Lugo). This Roman siesta of the sixth hour, after the performance of obligations and after eating, was called meridiatum.

Taking a nap or taking a nap is a deeply rooted habit in Mediterranean countries. Anglo-Saxon speakers have adopted the Spanish word “siesta” for a period of sleep set at noon, after dinner, while a short nap at other times of the day is called nap.

Sleep specialists use Anglicism take a nap or take a nap to refer to those short periods of sleep that occur at other times than the siesta, which in colloquial language would mean “nap”.

Curiously, the vocabulary of the Royal Spanish Academy includes the term “ram’s sleep”, which in some parts of Spain is known as “lamb’s sleep” or “gorrino’s sleep”. This was the dream that the shepherds had when, after walking all morning, they found a good pasture and rested a little while the animals were eating. Then the roles switched.

This was probably justified by fatigue, the time of day (noon is the hour of greatest physiological sleepiness), and low blood sugar under these conditions.

Siesta is a habit with a good reputation these days, but you should know use it. Below we give some hints and tips to give us this on a scientific basis.

1. When is it recommended and when is it contraindicated?

Take a nap and work. A short nap at work is traditionally considered a provocation. Today, however, it is normal for workers to nod inside or outside the place where they do their work day when they are on duty.

In recent decades, short naps have found their way as a preventive strategy to combat sleep deprivation in shift or night workers, as well as to address jet lag (see below).jet lag).

Sleep and school. With the exception of certain cases, students over three years of age do not need to take it. This reduces the time they spend in bed and the amount of time they spend at night, and increases their sleep latency (the time it takes for a child to fall asleep). Nighttime sleep is more important for cognitive development than daytime sleep.

Take a nap and go. Falling asleep is one of the main recommendations of experts in combating drowsiness while driving and preventing traffic accidents. During the 2013 campaign, the European Sleep Research Society highlighted the importance of short stops and sleep while driving. In many parts of the world, a distinction is already being made between fatigue driving and sleep driving.

2. Health benefits

Cardiovascular risk. In general, short sleep duration and sleep restriction for many years is clearly associated with a higher risk of obesity, hypertension and diabetes mellitus, with a higher incidence of cardiovascular events.

Some studies show that regular 30-minute naps (three or more days a week) reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 30% in healthy people. It also reduces the chance of coronary heart disease among working men with sleep deprivation during the week.

In contrast, long sleep (more than 60 minutes) instead of short sleep (less than half an hour) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in older people.

cognitive effects. A short nap (10-15 minutes) can help restore alertness. They improve attention, memory, cognitive control, thinking and creativity. In addition, daytime sleep helps control stress by reducing the activity of the neuroendocrine systems that regulate stress.

On the other hand, fragmented and reduced sleep is known to alter pain perception and tolerance, while pain in turn induces fragmented and reduced sleep. In this context, drowsiness plays an “analgesic” role, possibly through the regulation of mediators of the immunoinflammatory process.

And speaking of our protection, it can also change or restore various immunity parameters that have been altered due to sleep loss.

3. Right duration and right moment

Daytime sleep lasting less than 20 minutes causes only superficial sleep (stages N1 and N2, included in the phases of non-REM sleep). When these dreams contain only the N1 stage, they do not cause overt cognitive recovery, unlike dreams that reach the N2 stage.

On the other hand, their lengthening may cause the opposite effect: this is the so-called “inertia or drunken sleep”, which will suppress the cognitive advantage of taking a nap. This can happen if it lasts more than 20 minutes and we enter deep sleep (phase N3).

Timing is also important. Early afternoon sleep stops quickly, is more efficient, and has an N2 recovery phase, unlike late sleep. Also, doing them at the wrong time can lower your ability to recover.

4. Final recommendations

Put her to sleep without complexes. If you want to sleep and you have the opportunity to take a nap, do not fight this uncontrollable desire, because in the following hours it will have a good effect on your physical and mental state.

Make sure you have a good environment. Find a place with an acceptable level of noise and without excessive lighting.

Don’t do it too late. The sooner, the better. And no later than five o’clock in the afternoon.

Take a nap, usually. It will be more beneficial if you take naps on a regular basis as a good health habit.

Do not extend it for more than half an hour. Sleep times should be noted for personal reasons, but should ideally be between 10 and 30 minutes.

Juan José Ortega Albas, somnologist, physabio

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.