Be it a brief power nap to help perk us up, a Sunday afternoon kip after a big lunch, or a traditional daily Spanish siesta, many of us put our heads down for a short period during the day. But where does this habit come from and is it actually good for our health?

In this episode, part of our four-part Better Sleep miniseries, we speak to Valentina Paz, a psychologist based at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay and University College London.

She tells us how taking naps can help to boost our attention and energy, what the ideal time for a nap actually is, and speaks about her research on the long-term protective effects that napping can have on our brains.

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