I read with interest the provocative article by Bursztyn et al1; however, I question whether the link is as causal as the authors suggested.
Sleep is an important part of life. One feature of populations with a low incidence of coronary artery disease, as in China, is the afternoon nap. It has been an age-old custom for Chinese of all ages, especially the elderly population, to take an afternoon nap. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to reach anyone in the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, between noon and 2 PM because everybody is supposed to be napping.