If you’re fond of 40 winks, it could be down to your genes

LOVING a nap is in the genes and not a “behavioural choice”, a Harvard study has found.

Through examining the genomes of nearly half a million people from the UK, scientists discovered that daytime napping was “biologically driven”.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital identified 123 regions in the human genome that were associated with daytime napping. Digging deeper into the data, they identified three potential napping mechanisms.

The first two, called “disrupted sleep” and “early morning awakening”, refer to people who nap because they either did not get enough sleep the night before or woke up at dawn.

The third referred to sleep propensity – how much sleep is required by a particular individual. Dr Hassan Dashti said: “This tells us that daytime napping is biologically driven and not just an environmental or behavioural choice.”

Some of the genetic traits identified were also linked to health concerns, including obesity and high blood pressure. Scientists had analysed genetic information from 452,633 participants in the UK’S Biobank. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

It comes after findings from the British Medical Journal that a five-minute nap in the afternoon can improve the memory and keep the brain more agile. People who took regular naps appeared to speak more fluently and remember things better than those who did not.