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+--- Thread: [News] Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon (/Thread-News-Here-s-How-a-Nap-Could-Change-Your-Afternoon)
Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - ApneaNews - 08-16-2014
Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon
By Tanya Lewis
Taking an afternoon nap can improve short-term memory in younger adults, but perhaps not in older adults, according to a new study. However, a little daytime shut-eye has other health benefits for the elderly.
In the study, participants took afternoon naps in a lab. Researchers gave the subjects a word-based memory test and measured their blood pressure before and after the nap. Upon waking, the younger adults were able to remember more words, while the older adults saw no memory improvement.
Healthy older adults did show a decrease in blood pressure after napping. But those with sleep apnea — a disorder in which people stop breathing while asleep — experienced increases in blood pressure, according to the study, presented here today (Aug. 8) at a meeting of the American Psychological Association.
"The age-old idea is that sleep is a restorative process — it does good things for the body," said Michael Scullin, a sleep psychologist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Sleep, especially deep sleep, has been linked to memory consolidation and health in college-age adults. But older adults have shallower, more fragmented sleep, so it's unclear whether they get the same benefits from sleep that younger adults do.
"There's an increase in the number of people who are taking afternoon naps," Scullin told Live Science. "So we wanted to see whether afternoon naps can confer any of the same benefits that you might expect getting at night."
In the study, Scullin and his colleagues looked at adults ages 18 to 30 and 60 to 80. Some of the participants took 90-minute afternoon naps, and others just rested while awake. The participants wore caps of electrodes that recorded their brainwaves and other biophysical changes.
The younger adults who napped did better on the word test than the ones who rested but didn't sleep, the researchers found. But the older adults remembered about the same number of words whether they napped or not.
The researchers also measured the blood pressure, because it is an important measure of long-term health that has been linked to the risk of dementia, Scullin said.
Results showed that healthy older adults' blood pressure decreased after napping, from about 140/80 to about 130/75. (Healthy blood pressure is 120/80, and the cutoff for a diagnosis of high blood pressure is 140/90, according to the National Institutes of Health.)
But among older adults who suffer from sleep apnea, blood pressure went up after napping, from 140/80 to about 150/90, the researchers found.
"When you're having these breathing cessations [in sleep apnea], it's putting a lot of stress on your heart, so it makes sense that the blood pressure would get worse," Scullin said.
The takeaway message is that afternoon naps can have some of the same memory benefits as overnight sleep for young people. Among older people, the cognitive benefits of naps are less clear, but afternoon sleep could lower blood pressure in some individuals, the researchers said.
Fair Use From:
http://www.livescience.com/47271-afternoon-nap-benefits-memory-blood-pressure.html
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - SleepyDreamCatcher - 08-16-2014
I wonder what the results would have been if those with apnea had napped with their XPAP's?
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - Evpraxia - 10-14-2014
Good question, says she who took an unscheduled/unplanned nap this afternoon without her APAP...but WITH her cat!
Hubby said I looked so cute with our cat on my chest, both of us asleep, that he didn't want to wake us up. (Yes, my hubby and I are suckers for our cat.)
I hope it does not disturb my sleep tonight. Time will tell.
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - me50 - 10-14-2014
(08-16-2014, 10:14 PM)SleepyDreamCatcher Wrote: I wonder what the results would have been if those with apnea had napped with their XPAP's?
exactly what I was thinking. I betcha they didn't use their machine in this study
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - Galactus - 10-15-2014
One must wonder why a study like this did not disclose whether or not they used their PAP machines or not. Really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - Juanito - 10-15-2014
I nap fairly often and always use my CPAP. I have never had any kind of apnea during a nap (AHI=0.0) and wonder why that is. The quality of sleep I get during a nap is much better than at night.
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - Evpraxia - 10-15-2014
(10-15-2014, 11:43 AM)Juanito Wrote: I nap fairly often and always use my CPAP. I have never had any kind of apnea during a nap (AHI=0.0) and wonder why that is. The quality of sleep I get during a nap is much better than at night.
The position of the body will probably influence the apneas; a sitting or reclining position could reduce the number and severity of apneas.
Have you looked at the detail data using SleepyHead to see if there have been any strange or weird breathing patterns that did not meet the criteria for apneas? Even those breathing patterns that do NOT meet the criteria can still be disruptive to the body.
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - retired_guy - 10-15-2014
(10-15-2014, 11:43 AM)Juanito Wrote: I nap fairly often and always use my CPAP. I have never had any kind of apnea during a nap (AHI=0.0) and wonder why that is. The quality of sleep I get during a nap is much better than at night.
Another feature of the S9 is it has a "Ramp" feature. During "Ramp," the machine will start off at a low pressure, 4 for instance, and slowly build to the set pressure, 7 in your case. The idea is to make it "easier" for you to breath until you fall asleep and no longer know any better.
While in "Ramp" apneas will be ignored. Sometimes they set the ramp to ridiculously long periods, such as 45 minutes or so, which would be just about long enough for a nice nap.
In my opinion, the best setting for "Ramp" is "Off."
Call you Doc. Tell them you really, really want your settings changed.
RE: Here's How a Nap Could Change Your Afternoon - Sleepster - 10-15-2014
It may be that apneas are less prevalent the first time we go through a sleep cycle. Then they start occurring with greater frequency during later sleep cycles. Many people report clusters of apneas during the wee hours of the morning. It may be due to involuntary habits developed during years of untreated sleep apnea.