There’s nothing quite like an afternoon nap to restore the pep in your step – but the benefits of a midday lie down don’t end there. That’s according to new research published this week that found daytime napping could help to preserve brain health by slowing the rate at which our brains shrink as we age.

The research, which was published in Sleep Journal and led by researchers at University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, found that people with a napping habit had, on average, a brain size that was 15 cubic centimetres larger than those who never napped – a difference in size equivalent to delaying ageing by 2.6 to 6.5 years.

However, while previous research has suggested long naps could be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers in this study did something clever to prove their theory that naps could benefit brain health.  

Instead of asking the participants about their napping habits, the researchers looked at the genetic information of 35,000 participants aged 40-69 from the UK Biobank study – a long large-scale biomedical study and database that gives researchers access to the health information of up to half a million participants.

‘But how does that link to napping?’ I hear you ask. Well, previous studies have identified a combination of genetic variants that make you more likely to be a habitual napper. So, with this in mind, the team identified the people who possessed these variants – aka the nappers – and compared their brain health to those who didn’t – the non-nappers.

And as we’ve already mentioned, the difference was significant enough for the researchers to sit up and pay notice. “Our findings suggest that, for some people, short daytime naps may be a part of the puzzle that could help preserve the health of the brain as we get older,” said senior author Dr Victoria Garfield from UCL. 

Lead author and PhD candidate Valentina Paz from the University of the Republic in Uruguay echoed Garfield’s conclusion. “This is the first study to attempt to untangle the causal relationship between habitual daytime napping and cognitive and structural brain outcomes. I hope studies such as this one showing the health benefits of short naps can help to reduce any stigma that still exists around daytime napping.”

While the researchers didn’t record information on nap duration, scientists tend to say that you should keep daytime naps under 30 minutes to reap the benefits (which, by the way, can also include a boost in creativity) while avoiding any disruption to your night-time sleep – so make sure to set an alarm.

So, next time you’re feeling guilty about taking a lunchtime nap, remember that you could be doing your brain health a massive favour. And what’s not to love about that? 

Image: Getty