Modern life means fewer siestas

health — By Bob Riel on August 29, 2007 at 1:17 pm

In many of the world’s warmer climates, the mid-day siesta is a time-honored tradition. People have always taken time off to rest or nap in the mid-day heat and then tend to keep more active in the cooler hours of evening. But in many of these regions, modern life is causing the decline of the siesta, as noted in this NPR story about Greece.

For most of history, climate shaped the way people lived their everyday lives. In some of the world’s hottest places, people still take a midday siesta. But modern life is making that a rarity…

Even in the hottest climates, the midday siesta is a disappearing habit. With globalization, people work longer hours. Air-conditioning shields them from the heat. Many live in suburbs and farther away from where they work, which makes going home for a midday nap impractical.

Interestingly, just as the siesta is in decline, there is intriguing evidence that there may actually be health benefits to a mid-day nap.

“Napping is a response, an adaptation to the hot climate,” Trichopoulos says. “Siesta is a very pleasant habit. In a way, it doubles your day. Because you start all over again at 5 o’clock and you can go on until 11 or 12 o’clock which is not uncommon at all in our part of the world.”

Trichopoulos’ expertise is in cancer prevention. A courtly man at 68, he teaches both at Harvard and at the University of Athens. So he can’t help but notice the difference in the pace of life in Greece and in the United States.

“In the way life is organized here, you start with stress commuting,” he says. “And you finish with stress, which is again the commuting. So to have in the middle of the day a time when you can relax, it can only be good, or at least not bad.”

Trichopoulos looked specifically at whether taking a nap gives protection against heart attacks. The results were published earlier this year in an American medical journal. Greek men who napped at least 30 minutes a day were significantly less likely to die from heart attacks, compared with those who didn’t nap.

His theory is that napping helps reduce stress, which is known to increase one’s risk of heart attack. Trichopoulos cautions that more study is needed to confirm his findings – but he’s excited about the health implications.