14 DAY TRIAL // Here is a piece of news that can easily serve as the perfect excuse to enjoy an afternoon nap without fear of being accused of laziness. Not that there is anything wrong with being lazy and not in the mood to do anything.
In a nutshell, recent evidence indicates that people who get some shut-eye in the afternoon are likely to experience a noteworthy improvement in their ability to remember various things when finally deciding to crawl out of bed.
Thus, researchers speaking at a meeting of the American Psychological Association announced that, according to their investigations into the matter at hand, afternoon naps need be linked to an improvement in short-term memory.
According to these researchers, young adults are the ones most likely to experience an improvement in their short-term memory, should they take up the habit of lying down and sleep for a while during daytime, Live Science informs.
Then again, it appears that napping in the afternoon can also benefit those who are past their prime. Specifically, older adults are now said to have a lower blood pressure after waking up from a daytime shut-eye, the same source explains.
In order to determine how afternoon naps influence one's overall health condition and memory, researcher Michael Scullin with the Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and colleagues carried out a series of experiments with the help of volunteers.
Of the folks who agreed to take part in this research project, one group comprised volunteers between the ages of 18 to 30. One other group was made up of people between the ages of 60 to 80, the specialists explained at the meeting of the American Psychological Association.
As part of this investigation, some of the volunteers were asked to take a 90-minute afternoon nap. Others were not this lucky, and were only allowed to rest while awake. Later, the researchers tested their memory and also measured their blood pressure.
The young adults who got to enjoy a nap performed better on the memory test they completed after waking up. No improvement in short-term memory was documented in the case of the older adults. Their blood pressure, however, was found to have dropped from about 140/80 to about 130/75.
Given the fact that increased blood pressure has been linked to a higher dementia risk, this indicates that older adults too should try to rest in the afternoon whenever possible. Still, it's important to note that, in the case of folks suffering with sleep apnea, afternoon naps appear to up blood pressure.