Yesterday we hosted a brunch at our home. Afterward, we visited with out of town guests and some of us, who had eaten early in the morning had lunch. In the afternoon Susan and I gave rides to the train station to four guests to meet their south-bound ride. They were heading to Portland where two of them live and the other two will be visiting before flying from Portland home to Montana. When we got home from giving the ride, we laid down on the bed for a nap. After a very busy and very fun weekend, it felt good to snooze for a little while before continuing the activities of the day.

I’ve been quite a napper for much of my adult life. I tend to sleep a little bit less at night than some of my peers and I got quite good at catching a few winks in the afternoon. Of course there have been times when my work schedule didn’t allow napping. Some days, I have meetings or duties that need to be accomplished in the middle of the day. I’ve found that I am quite able to benefit from a short nap when it fits into my schedule.

Recently I read about a study conducted by researchers at University College of London that daytime napping is good for our brain and helps keep it bigger for longer. The team showed nappers’ brains were 15 cubic centimeters, or a bit less than an inch larger. The effect is the equivalent of delaying aging by between three and six years. Of course the results are based on averages of a group of people and not predictors of the effect on any individual, but if I am typical, perhaps my brain is a bit more capable than if I had skipped all of those naps.

“We are suggesting that everybody could potentially experience some benefit from napping,” said Dr. Victoria Garfield. She described the findings as “quite novel and quite exciting.”

Human brains naturally shrink with age, but this process is a bit slower in those who regularly nap. Of course scientists have long known of the benefits of daytime sleep for infants. The practice, however, becomes less common as children grow through their school years. When I was in kindergarten, we had a short rest time in the mid morning and our classes were ended by noon. Most days I had a nap after lunch. When I became a first grader, school lasted through the afternoon and I stopped napping. These days our grandchildren have attended all-day kindergartens and have stopped daytime napping at age 5. However, there is a common increase in napping among retired persons. Around 27% of people over 65 report having a daytime nap.

There have been some studies that link disturbed sleep with dementia. Those who are able to get adequate sleep on a regular basis are less likely to develop various forms of dementia. While the University College study does not indicate whether naps could help prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s, researchers are interested in further study about the benefits of napping. It has been shown that poor sleep damages the brain over time by causing inflammation and affecting the connections between brain cells. Researcher Valentina Paz concluded, “Thus, regular napping could protect against neurodegeneration by compensating for deficient sleep.”

The results of the study published in the journal Sleep Health, described a connection between DNA - the genetic code that determines development. Differences in DNA coding makes people either more likely to be nappers or to power though the day. I’ve never had my DNA analyzed for those genetic markers, but I’m fairly certain that I’m one of those who is naturally predisposed to napping. My wife, on the other hand usually does not take naps, preferring to sleep through the night and get her sleep all in one stretch.

So I stand with Professor Tara Spires-Jones from the University of Edinburgh and president of the British Neuroscience Association, who, according to a BBC article on the study said, “I enjoy short naps on the weekends and this study has convinced me that i shouldn’t feel lazy napping. It may even be protecting my brain.” She has inspired me to change how I think and talk about my tendency to sit down in my recliner to read and 30 to 40 minutes later wake having read very little of the book in my hands. I’m not being lazy. I stopped thinking of my naps as laziness years ago, preferring the term “power nap” in response to the feeling of being re-energized and ready to return to work after a nap. Now I guess I can say that I am protecting my brain health.

Researchers did not include studies of longer daytime naps, focusing their research on naps of about a half hour. Generally that is about the length of my daytime naps, but I’ve been known to nod off for a bit longer, especially these days when I am working part time. Since I only go to the office three days a week, there are many days when a short nap on the other days has become common. I am not opposed, however, to a longer nap on occasion. Perhaps I should volunteer to be a part of a follow-up study. I’m pretty sure I could manage a 45-minute nap for the sake of science.

I suspect that like many other things in life there is no single form of napping that is right for every person. We are unique individuals with differing sleep patterns. I tend to wake up in the middle of the night for periods that sometimes match the naps I take during the day. I haven’t kept records, but suspect that my overall sleep is fairly similar to that of my wife who often sleeps the whole night through and doesn’t nap. It is likely that care of our brains is more directly related to overall sleep gained rather than to the practice of taking naps.

However, for the sake of science I may take another nap today.