As a parent of a daytime cat-napper, when people used to tell me to “sleep when the baby sleeps,” I used to think, “what’s the point?”
Turns out that even just half-an-hour’s snooze will do you a lot of good if you’re sleep deprived. As a parent who has over a year’s worth of sleep debt, this is music to my ears.
According to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a short nap can help relieve stress and bolster immune systems by restoring hormones and proteins to normal levels.
“Our data suggests a 30-minute nap can reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep,” said one of the JCEM study’s authors, Brice Faraut. “This is the first study that found napping could restore biomarkers of neuroendocrine and immune health to normal levels.”
The study examined the relationship between sleep and hormones in a group of 11 healthy men between the ages of 25 and 32, who underwent two sessions of sleep testing in a laboratory. During one session, the men were limited to two hours of sleep for one night. For the other session, they were able to take two, 30-minute naps the day after their sleep was restricted to two hours. Researchers analysed urine and saliva to determine how restricted sleep and napping altered hormone levels.
“Napping may offer a way to counter the damaging effects of sleep restriction by helping the immune and neuroendocrine systems to recover,” Faraut said.
Excellent news for the wrecked and weary, and even less of an excuse for not sleeping when the baby sleeps (the housework can wait). Now, excuse me while I just go and lie down for 30 minutes.
