Don't take a nap for too long. The longer you sleep, the more harmful it is to your health! These people don't recommend taking a nap →

"If you don't take a nap at noon, you will collapse in the afternoon!" Especially in this spring sleepy season, in order to have better energy in the afternoon, 87.56% of people across the country have the habit of taking a nap. A high-quality nap can provide the body with a chance to repair itself, and even if it is only a few minutes, it can help relieve fatigue. Then many people will ask, how should you take a nap? How long is normal to sleep? Today, let's explain everything about naps.

Taking a nap for more than an hour increases the risk of dementia by 40%

A 2022 study published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia found a bidirectional relationship between napping and brain aging. Excessive daytime napping increases the risk of dementia in later life. At the same time, as patients age, having Alzheimer's disease can lead to an increase in daytime napping.

Research screenshots

The study included 1,401 adults with an average age of 81. During the two-week study period, all participants wore a watch-like device on their wrist to measure sleep.

Specifically, taking a nap of more than an hour at least once a day increased the risk of dementia by 40% compared to people who took a nap of less than an hour a day.

Ultimately, the researchers described the relationship between daytime napping and cognition as a "vicious cycle."

Two common wrong nap habits

Since naps have so many benefits, can we ignore the opinions of our colleagues/leaders/family and sleep as long as we want?

The answer is – No!

Image source: Pixabay

0 1 Nap time is too long

Many people may have had this feeling: "I feel even more sleepy after waking up from a nap, and I feel very tired..." This may be because we sleep too long.

A complete sleep cycle lasts about 90-100 minutes. When we take a nap for more than 30 minutes, we will enter a deep sleep period. Waking up from a deep sleep period will reduce alertness and increase tiredness.

02 Sleeping on your stomach

For many office workers or students, the conditions for taking naps are limited and they can only take naps on the desk.

But in fact, sleeping on your stomach frequently will not only make your hands and feet numb, but also cause great harm to your health:

Muscle strain

When you lie down for a nap, your neck is in a flexed position for a long time, and the muscles in the back are stretched, which can easily lead to excessive fatigue, muscle strain, and neck muscle soreness.

●Affects the physiological curvature of the cervical spine

Our cervical spine has a physiological curvature. When sleeping on your stomach, if your neck is too low, the cervical spine will be in a state of recurvature. Especially when sleeping on your side, the cervical spine is forced to rotate 45°-90°, and the muscles and ligaments beside the neck are continuously stretched, causing damage to the cervical spine.

●Bloating

When sleeping at a table, the bent body will compress the esophagus and make it flat. At this time, the gas in the stomach will be retained in the stomach due to the increased resistance to discharge. As the sleeping time increases, a large amount of gas in the stomach accumulates, causing bloating.

●Eyeball pressure and impaired vision

When sleeping on your stomach, your arms press on your eyeballs, causing increased intraocular pressure. Over time, this can lead to eye pain, dryness, decreased vision, and even induce glaucoma or accelerate astigmatism.

In addition, taking a nap while lying down has a "socially deadly" effect - it makes you drool easily, which affects your image in the eyes of your colleagues.

Naps are not for everyone!

Although taking a nap is good, it is not suitable for everyone.

Especially for people with insomnia, it is best not to take a nap.

People with insomnia already have trouble sleeping at night, and if they take a nap during the day, their sleep motivation will decrease at night, which may aggravate the degree of insomnia or mood.

Of course, there is still a group of people who can take a nap, but be careful not to take more than 30 minutes.

People aged 65 and over, people whose weight is 20% overweight (calculated as a percentage of obesity index)

Taking a nap will increase blood viscosity and may cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

People with low blood pressure

Blood pressure will be relatively lower during naps, which can easily cause adverse conditions such as difficulty breathing.

People who may have serious circulatory system disorders

After lunch, blood from the brain will flow to the stomach, blood pressure will drop, and the oxygen supply to the brain will decrease, which may aggravate dizziness.

If you want to have a good nap, there are two small details to pay attention to.

1. Don’t blow the air conditioner fan towards you

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and many people like to use fans and air conditioners to blow on themselves during naps. However, sleeping with fans blowing on them like this will not only make people more likely to catch a cold, but also cause shoulder and neck problems, and in severe cases, may even cause facial paralysis.

Recommendations: Do not set the air conditioning temperature too low, 26℃ is appropriate; do not blow directly towards the air outlet; when staying in the air-conditioned room for a long time, it is best to put on a small blanket, etc.

Image source: Pixabay

2. Two types of people should not take naps

Although taking a nap is good, it is not suitable for everyone.

For people who have poor sleep quality at night, who cannot fall asleep or sleep well after lying in bed for half a day, taking a nap may aggravate their insomnia at night, so taking a nap is not recommended.

High temperatures can aggravate low blood pressure. Therefore, it is not recommended for people with low blood pressure to take a nap when the room temperature is hot.

Source: Chongqing Tianji Network Co., Ltd.

Source: This article is compiled from Life Times, Science Popularization China, Health Times, People's Health Network

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