By BOB CONDOR

This thought first crossed my mind in 1994 when I was on a trip to the Greek Islands to join a friend in celebrating her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary: Greek men, those enjoying island life but in a city like Athens too, seemed happy and healthy and, well, way more relaxed than the typical American guy. Even the typical American guy on vacation to one of those islands.

“You won’t want to come back,” said Andreas, a Greek friend of mine before the trip. “It’s a different way of life. It can change you.”

Andreas knew the transformation in reverse. He had moved from Athens about 12 years before, becoming a successful hair salon owner and a bona fide member of the rat race (retro term, I know). Only Andreas made it a point to marry a Greek woman and make sure he gets back to the homeland — and his favorite island of Crete — a couple times each year for extended stays.

During that 1994 trip we were taking a weeklong cruise, one of those voyages where you keep promising yourself to come back for a longer stay. You can’t do justice to Santorini in a day. But the trip afforded the chance to consider just what defines a healthy lifestyle.

Here in the U.S. we tend to equate healthy lifestyle with, oh, low-fat diets, sweaty sessions at the health club, getting to the doctor for regular checkups. We don’t think too much about how sharing a fresh round of sesame bread, dipped liberally in extra virgin olive oil, sliced tomatoes from the garden and feta goat cheese can be both a calming and energizing meal to start the day. Or that walking to and from work allows some time to think along with the exercise.

Or that — how great is this? — the requisite afternoon nap turns out to be a scientifically proven boost for heart health. All that closing of shops and offices for a few midday hours might be about public health and not just personal leisure.

That’s exactly what all sorts of media outlets reported earlier this month. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, managed to recruit about 24,000 Greek males between 20 and 86 who had no history of heart disease, stroke or cancer. Trichopoulos and his colleagues then tracked the napping habit of those men for an average of six years.

The results will cheer nappers everywhere (including telecommuters who aren’t likely to tell co-workers anytime soon how rejuvenating it can be to catch a quick nap between post-lunch tasks). Controlling for risk factors such as diet and physical activity, Trichopoulos found that men who took at least three naps per week lasting at least a half-hour each were 37 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than men who didn’t snooze in the afternoon. Men in the study who took naps of less than 30 minutes were 12 percent less likely to die from heart problems than the non-nappers.

While the media reported the study as a sort of novelty — few workplaces accommodate nap breaks and “sleeping on the job” is practically an insult — there were some researchers impressed with the potential for heart disease prevention.

“If the finding holds true, that’s an amazing discovery,” said Rajiv Dhand, a researcher at the University of Missouri in Columbia, who speculated that proper napping could equal the success of such treatments as improved diets and cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Interestingly, the Harvard data showed the most benefits for Greek men who were working as compared to retirees.

“That’s one intriguing thing about this study,” said Dr. Sarah Speck, medical director of the Center for Cardiovascular Wellness at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. “There has been a lot of discussion (and research) about the Mediterranean diet. But this study measured adherence to the diet from 0 to 9, which was the highest adherence. And no matter if someone was a low number or a 9 the study shows a refreshing nap — just twice a week even — can make a significant difference.”

Speck said research about meditation shows it can lead to less fluctuation in heart rate and blood pressure. This study follows to that end, she said.

“Sleep allows you to buffer adrenaline and other stress chemicals in the body,” said Speck. “It suggests that taking naps on the weekend would be healthy whether you can take one during the week or not.”

Speck said the study got her thinking about ways to incorporate naps and meditative rests.

“I was talking to co-workers about those massage stations at the airport with those seats where people lean forward,” said Speck, laughing a bit. “I wonder if we could fit those over a computer at a work station. You could get in 15 minutes of quiet time over the lunch hour.”

Bob Condor is the senior editor for MSN.com health content at health.msn.com. He writes about health and quality of life every Monday. E-mail him with ideas or questions for the Living Well column at bob.condor@hotmail.com.

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer