Americans are in the midst of a sleep crisis. Almost 70 percent of adults report sleeping six or fewer hours per night according to a National Health Interview Survey.
This lack of sleep increases rates of automobile accidents and can have such adverse health impacts as obesity, diabetes, alcoholism, high blood pressure, and depression.
Sometimes missing sleep is unavoidable. So how much does a quick nap help offset some of the negative side effects? Researchers examined this question in a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
“Our data suggests a 30-minute nap can reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep. This is the first study that found napping could restore biomarkers of neuroendocrine and immune health to normal levels,” said one of the study’s authors, Brice Faraut, Ph.D., of the Université Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité in Paris, France.
