Sleep is good for your health – yeah, yeah. You’ve heard it before. But before your eyes glaze over, know this: you don’t necessarily need a full eight hours to reap the benefits. After collecting data from 212 people, scientists in Greece found that taking an hour-long kip daily can help lower your blood pressure.
And considering that hypertension (aka, high blood pressure) has been proven to increase the risk of all kinds of health conditions (e.g. heart disease and stroke), it’s a solid reason to schedule a snooze.
For the study, doctors at Asklepieion General Hospital in Voula tracked the progress of patients with hypertension using blood pressure monitors. At the end of the experiment, they noticed that those who had slept for an hour each day experienced an average drop of 3mm in HG blood pressure, compared to those who skipped their nap.
“Midday sleep appears to lower blood pressure levels at the same magnitude as other lifestyle changes. For example, salt and alcohol reduction can bring blood pressure levels down by 3 to 5mm Hg,” explained the study’s co-author Dr Manolis Kallistratos.
“Based on our findings, if someone has the luxury to take a nap during the day, it may also have benefits for high blood pressure.”
BRB, gotta go find a quiet place to rest our eyes (sorry, Boss.)
This article originally appeared on Women’s Health.
