Naps can be quite beneficial. They often help improve alertness, reaction times, memory, and problem-solving skills.
Short naps may counteract some negative effects of sleep deprivation and have even been linked to a potential reduction in dementia risk.
However, recent research suggests that the way older adults nap could offer important health insights.
A study conducted in the US found that frequent daytime naps, particularly in the morning, are linked to higher mortality rates among older adults.
This kind of “excessive” napping might indicate underlying health issues, according to the researchers, and could be a useful metric for early health detection.
Chenlu Gao, a sleep scientist at Mass General Brigham and the first author of the study, remarked that this research is among the first to establish a relationship between measured napping patterns and mortality, highlighting the clinical significance of monitoring these patterns for early detection of health issues.
Past studies have also associated frequent napping with health concerns, including hypertension and stroke, but the full extent of the relationship is still unclear.
There are correlations noted, yet it’s uncertain what causes what. It’s possible that naps are beneficial attempts to cope with pre-existing health conditions, rather than being the root of those conditions themselves.
Despite strong evidence linking napping to health problems, significant questions remain about the nature of this association, partly due to limitations in the existing data.
Excessive napping in later life has been connected to neurodegeneration and cardiovascular diseases, yet many prior findings depend on self-reported data, lacking details like the timing and regularity of naps.
Between 20 and 60 percent of older adults take naps during the day, and many of these rest periods are likely refreshing rather than harmful. Still, the exploration of the connections between excessive napping and health issues has faced challenges due to a lack of objective data.
To address this, Gao and her team utilized data from the Memory and Aging Project at Rush University, which started in 1997 and gathers cognitive and neurodegenerative information from participants over 55 years old in northern Illinois.
The study employed wrist monitors from 2005 onwards to track behavior, distinguishing between active and resting periods over an average span of ten days.
These monitors have been part of the ongoing research, producing 20 years’ worth of data involving 1,338 individuals by 2025.
With access to objective data on napping habits, the researchers could thoroughly examine factors like nap duration, frequency, timing, and individual variability.
In analyzing the impact of napping patterns on mortality over a 19-year follow-up, they found that longer and more frequent naps, especially morning naps, correlated with a greater risk of death.
For each extra hour of napping daily, the associated risk of mortality increased by approximately 13 percent, while each additional nap taken in a day linked to a 7 percent higher risk of dying during the follow-up.
The timing of naps also seems significant; morning nappers face about a 30 percent higher mortality risk compared to those napping in the early afternoon.
Yet, it’s essential to clarify that this doesn’t necessarily mean napping itself is the cause.
Gao emphasized that this correlation does not imply causation. Excessive napping might indicate pre-existing health conditions, sleep disorders, or patterns of chronic illness.
Rather than discouraging daytime naps altogether, these findings suggest that napping habits could provide important clues regarding one’s health.
“Now that we know there’s a strong relationship between napping patterns and mortality, we can argue for the use of wearable technology to monitor daytime napping as a means to predict health issues and prevent deterioration,” Gao noted.
The study appeared in JAMA Network Open.
