Nap to your heart’s content
Some mid-day slumber may be your solution for better heart health. In a recent Archives of Internal Medicine study of 23,681 Greek men and women, researchers found that those who napped for a half-hour or more at least three times weekly had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who never napped. And among working men, regular siesta-takers had a 64 percent lower risk of heart-related death than their non-napping counterparts.
The study looked at 23,681 Greek men and women (ages 20 to 86) who did not have a history of heart disease when they enrolled. At a follow-up about six years later, 133 participants had died from heart disease. After factoring in other cardiovascular risk factors, the researchers discovered that taking naps of any frequency and duration was linked with a 34 percent reduction in risk of death from heart disease. Siesta’s “stress-releasing consequences” may be key to its impact on heart health, note the study’s authors, who recommend taking mid-afternoon naps whenever you’re granted the opportunity.
Freeway fallout
Growing up near a freeway could saddle your child with lifelong lung trouble, according to a new report from the University of Southern California. Looking at eight years of data on more than 3,600 children in 12 Southern California cities, researchers determined that those who lived about a third of a mile from a freeway had poorer lung function than those who lived at least a mile away. Even non-asthmatic, non-smoking kids “experienced a significant decrease in lung function from traffic pollution,” says lead study author W. James Gauderman, Ph.D.
Since ages 10 to 18 mark a critical period in lung development, such stunting could trigger more serious health problems down the road. “Someone suffering a pollution-related deficit in lung function as a child will probably have less than healthy lungs all of his or her life,” Gauderman warns. “And poor lung function in later adult life is known to be a major risk factor for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.”
The D dilemma
The same UV rays that promote skin cancer may help protect you from the potentially deadly disease, suggests a new study from Stanford University. In lab tests, researchers found that a compound generated by vitamin D3 (a precursor to vitamin D) signals immune cells to migrate to the skin and guard against cancer. But in order to produce vitamin D3, your skin needs to be exposed to UVB rays, a form of UV light known to have cancer-causing effects.
The study’s authors have yet to test their results on human subjects, so don’t ease up your sunscreen just yet. To build your body’s supply of immune-boosting vitamin D, get 1,000 IU in supplement form daily.