Siestas bring down blood pressure and need for medication

ATHENS, GREECE (WPVI) -- Just one more reason we should all move to the Mediterranean.

A new study presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting re-affirms the benefits of taking a siesta.

Researchers at Asklepieion Voula General Hospital in Athens, Greece, say it's linked to lower blood pressure and the need for fewer high-blood pressure medications.

Working with 386 middle-aged patients, 200 of whom were men and 186 were women, the Greek researchers wanted to know if the siesta - which has largely disappeared in Western cultures - could be beneficial.

Participants averaged 61.4 years old and all of them had arterial hypertension.

The team took note of how much they slept midday and measured their diastolic and systolic blood pressure while they were at their offices.

They also had 24-hour blood pressure monitoring.

Body mass index (BMI), age, gender, smoking habits, diet, exercise and caffeine intake were taken into account.

The research team also measured the volunteers' pulse wave velocity -- a measurement of arterial stiffness.

That was where the big gap was between siesta-takers and those who do not nap midday.

Siesta-takers' average pulse wave velocity was 11 percent lower than others and the siesta-takers' left atrium diameter was 5 percent smaller, on average.

"These findings suggest that midday sleepers have less damage from high blood pressure in their arteries and heart," says Dr. Kallistratos.

The overall blood pressure of those who took regular siestas was also five percent lower, compared to their non-napping counterparts.

For siesta-takers, the average systolic blood pressure reading was four percent lower when measured while they were awake, and six percent lower when they slept during the night.

Past studies show that reductions even smaller than that can cut the chance of cardiovascular events.

What's more, the longer the siesta, the more beneficial it appears to be.

Doctors say those who slept longer needed far fewer drugs to bring down blood pressure.