Siesta touted as defense against heart disease: study

CHICAGO (AFP) - Forget oatmeal and sweaty work-outs, if it's heart disease you're worried about, the best insurance policy might be a regular afternoon nap, a study said.

  That's because a little shut-eye in the middle of the day can dramatically reduce the risk of death from heart-disease, presumably because of its stress-busting effect, the authors of the study said.

In fact, in a long-term study of Greek men and women, the ones who took at least three 30-minute siestas every week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart-disease related death than those who skipped an afternoon snooze.

Among working men, the benefits of the power nap were even more striking: the men who made time for some daily downtime, either occasionally or systematically, had a 64 percent lower risk of death from heart disease than their more hard-charging compatriots.

The researchers were unable to assess the impact of the siesta on working women because of insufficient data, according to the paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"We interpret our findings as indicating that among healthy adults, siesta, possibly on account of stress-releasing consequences, may reduce coronary mortality," said the authors.

The findings are culled from a six-year study of more than 23,000 Greek men and women between the ages of 20 and 86. Volunteers were enrolled in 1994 and followed for more than six years, through 1999. At the end of that period, 792 participants had died, 133 of them from heart disease.

Researchers from the University of Athens Medical School in Greece and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, hope that the results of the study will settle a question that has vexed investigators for some time: namely, whether the lower rates of coronary heart-disease seen in Mediterranean and Latin American countries are related to the natives' habit of taking an afternoon siesta.

Several studies have explored the connection, but the results have been conflicting. With this study, the researchers were careful to enroll only healthy volunteers and to take account of other risk factors, such as diet and physical activity, providing for a more robust analysis.

In Spain and Mexico, the cultural institution of the daily siesta has come under attack in recent years, with critics arguing that the midday work stoppage puts businesses at a competitive disadvantage in today's global economy.

But the authors of this study suggest that what may be bad for the bottom line may be extremely good for the health of employees.

"The public health message is clear - if you can take a midday nap, do so," said Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, with the highest rates of the disease seen in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization.

                           The Art of Apology by John Gray

       Everybody seems a little contrite these days. Celebrities such as Mel Gibson and Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld) publicly apologize for their offensive outbursts. Then there's former Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, who sat before a parliamentary committee to apologize for the RCMP's role in the deportation and torture of Maher Arar. The phrase "I'm sorry" is popping up every time we turn on the television or open a newspaper.

  That's often not the case in the rough-and-tumble world of office politics, where many workers hesitate to express regret lest they look weak in front of co-workers or inter-office rivals. But you don't need to see an online video of yourself using a racial epithet before asking for forgiveness. Failing to live up to your part of a deal, spreading malicious office

gossip or even dumping some of your work on a colleague at the last minute can endanger your relationships with co-workers if you don't step up. Sure, offering a mea culpa may be difficult and not without some risk, but it can pay substantial dividends in keeping peace at the office and ensuring you can still rely on your co-workers to help meet tight deadlines or best the competition, says Ward Struthers, an associate professor of psychology at Toronto's York University who studies the role of apologies and forgiveness in the workplace. At the very least, "If you don't apologize, your co-workers may resent you and try to retaliate against you."

      Don't believe in the power of apology? Consider that the University of Michigan Health System found malpractice suits were cut in half after instituting a policy in 2001 that encouraged doctors who made a medical mistake to fess up immediately and apologize to their patients. It also saved millions in legal fees as a result.

But a badly delivered apology will only make things worse, says Judy Eaton, an assistant professor of psychology at the Brantford, Ont., campus of Wilfrid Laurier University. "A simple 'If you were hurt, then I'm sorry' will not make anyone feel better," she says. You have to admit wrongdoing, take full responsibility for your actions, show empathy for the hurt feelings of the victim and promise not to do it again.

Most apologies go off the rails when the offender tries to either justify their actions or minimize the amount of damage they caused, Eaton says. That's why they must be sincere and heartfelt. But be aware that an apology--even a good one--will not pacify people who feel you intentionally offended or hurt them. In that case, "the victim is more likely to think that you have some sort of ulterior motive and not believe you," says Struthers. "You are better off saying nothing at all."