Nicked from Yahoo! 
Study: On-the-job naps might help
heart
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Mon Feb 12, 4:25 PM ET
CHICAGO - Office nappers now have the
perfect excuse: New research shows that a little midday snooze
seems to reduce the risk of fatal heart problems, especially among
men.
In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping,
researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of
about six years. Those who napped for about half an hour at least
three times weekly had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart
attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap.
Most participants were in their 50s, and the strongest evidence was
in working men, according to the study, which appears in Monday's
issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers said naps might benefit the heart by reducing
stress, and jobs are a common source of stress.
It's likely that women reap similar benefits from napping, but not
enough of them died during the study to be sure, said Dr. Dimitrios
Trichopoulos, the study's senior author and a researcher at Harvard
University and the University of Athens Medical School.
Heart problems killed 48 women who were studied, six of them
working women, compared with 85 men, including 28 working
men.
A daytime siesta has long been part
of many cultures, especially those in warmer climates.
Mediterranean-style eating habits featuring fruits, vegetables,
beans and olive oil have been credited with contributing to
relatively low rates of heart disease in those countries, but the
researchers wanted to see if napping also plays a
role.
"My advice is if you can (nap), do it. If you have a sofa in your
office, if you can relax, do it," Trichopoulos said.
Exactly how stress is related to heart disease is uncertain. Some
researchers think it might be directly involved, through unhealthy
effects of stress hormones, or indirectly by causing people to
exercise less, overeat or smoke.
The researchers in the latest study factored in diet, exercise,
smoking and other habits that affect the heart but still found
napping seemed to help.
Previous studies have had conflicting results. Some suggested
napping might increase risk of death, but those mostly involved
elderly people whose daytime sleepiness reflected poor health,
Trichopoulos said.
His research team studied a broader range of people, ages 20 to 86,
who were generally healthy when the study began.
Still, it's possible that study
participants who napped "are just people who take better care of
themselves," which could also benefit the heart, said Dr. Marvin
Wooten, a sleep specialist at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in
Milwaukee.
"The guy ... who doesn't take time out for a siesta in their
culture is probably the guy who is extremely driven and under a lot
of pressure," which could increase heart risks, he
said.
Siestas aren't ingrained in U.S. culture,
and napping usually is equated with laziness in the high-charging
corporate world, said Bill Anthony, a Boston University
psychologist and co-author of "The Art of Napping at Work."
Still, some offices allow on-the-job naps, and many workers say it
makes them more, not less, productive.
Yarde Metals, a metals distributing firm, built a nap room at its
Southington, Conn., headquarters as part of an employee wellness
program. With two leather sofas, fluffy pillows, soft lighting and
an alarm clock, it's the perfect place for a quick snooze, engineer
Mark Ekenbarger said.
Ekenbarger, 56, has an enlarged
heart artery and said he frequently takes half-hour naps on the
advice of his doctor to reduce stress.
"It really does energize me for the rest of the day," Ekenbarger
said.
"It would be really encouraging if employers across the country
really embraced that philosophy that napping is a good thing. It
makes a big difference in my life."
That bit in red is so true in Singapore too. 
Let's start a siesta movement!
