Finding time for a short nap on a regular basis is excellent for the brain and helps it stay larger for longer, according to University College London researchers.
The researchers discovered that nappers' brains were 15 cubic centimetres (0.9 cubic inches) bigger, which is comparable to slowing down aging by three to six years, reports BBC.
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However, scientists advised restricting naps to less than 30 minutes, it said. They said that getting enough sleep during the day was difficult in many professions, with work cultures sometimes frowning on the habit.
"We are suggesting that everybody could potentially experience some benefit from napping," Dr Victoria Garfield said. She described the findings as "quite novel and quite exciting."
Napping has been found to be important for growth of newborns, but it decreases in popularity as a person starts to age, and then resurfaces after retirement, with 27% of people over 65 reporting taking a midday sleep, said the report.
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Dr Garfield believes napping is "something quite easy" in comparison to weight loss or exercise, which are "difficult for a lot of people."
Although the brain typically shrinks with age, further study is needed to determine whether naps might help avoid disorders such as Alzheimer's, added the report.
Overall brain health is vital for preventing dementia, and the disorder is connected to sleep disruption.
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According to the study, lack of sleep damages the brain over time by producing inflammation and disrupting the connections between brain cells.
"Thus, regular napping could protect against neurodegeneration by compensating for deficient sleep," researcher Valentina Paz said.
Napping might improve your health, but it can also make you fatigued, making you want to snooze more.
So the researchers utilised innovative methods to demonstrate the benefits of sleeping. They utilized a massive natural experiment based on the DNA -- the genetic code -- that we are born with. Previous research has discovered 97 DNA sequences that either make us more prone to snooze or to push through the day, the report also said.
So the scientists simply compared genetic "nappers" and "non-nappers" from 35,000 people aged 40 to 69 who participated in the UK Biobank study.
The findings, published in the journal Sleep Health, revealed a 15 cubic centimetre difference, which corresponds to 2.6 to 6.5 years of ageing. In the research, total brain volumes were around 1,480 cubic centimetres.
"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," Prof Tara Spires-Jones, from the University of Edinburgh and the president of the British Neuroscience Association, said.
She said the "interesting" findings showed a "small but significant increase in brain volume" and "adds to the data indicating that sleep is important for brain health".
The researchers did not explicitly analyse having a long nap in the middle of the day, but claimed the science pointed to a half-hour cut off.