A new study has found that a regular nap throughout the day could be good for the brain.
The research has suggested that regular naps during the day could slow the rate at which the brain shrinks through ageing, according to scientists at UCL and the University of the Republic in Uruguay.
Researchers have hopes that their study will reduce any stigma that surrounds the idea of napping during the day.
The study notes that the average difference in brain volume between those who are habitual nappers and those who didn't nap was the equivalent to 2.6 years and 6.5 years of ageing in total.
Senior author Dr Victoria Garfield, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing at UCL, said: "Our findings suggest that, for some people, short daytime naps may be a part of the puzzle that could help preserve the health of the brain as we get older."
The research, which was published in the journal Sleep Health, explored data from people aged between 40 to 69.
Previous studies have suggested that people who have taken a short nap tended to perform better in cognitive tests in the hours after their sleep, compared to those who didn't nap.
Experts looked into 97 various pieces of DNA that are believed to determine people's natural likelihood of habitual napping.
They compared measures of the brain's health and cognition of those who are genetically programmed to nap more, in comparison to those who did not have these different changes in DNA.
This was studied using data from 378,932 people from the UK Biobank study.
The study found that, overall, people who are predetermined to nap more had a larger brain volume in total.
Researchers found the genetic variants that influenced the likeliness of someone napping more in an earlier study that looked at data from 452,633 UK Biobank participants.
However, the experts didn't find a difference in how well the habitual nappers performed on three other measures of brain health and cognitive function.
Lead author and PhD candidate Valentina Paz, University of the Republic (Uruguay) and MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing at UCL, said: "This is the first study to attempt to untangle the causal relationship between habitual daytime napping and cognitive and structural brain outcomes.
"By looking at genes set at birth, Mendelian randomisation avoids confounding factors occurring throughout life that may influence associations between napping and health outcomes.
"Our study points to a causal link between habitual napping and larger total brain volume."
Dr Garfield added: "I hope studies such as this one showing the health benefits of short naps can help to reduce any stigma that still exists around daytime napping."
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