Habit in later life may serve as a measurable indicator of underlying health problems. Researchers from Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center followed 1,338 older adults for as long as 19 years, tracking their napping behavior alongside mortality outcomes.
The study indicated that longer naps, more frequent naps, and naps taken in the morning were all associated with increased mortality risk.
“Excessive napping later in life has been linked to neurodegeneration, cardiovascular diseases, and even greater morbidity, but many of those findings rely on self-reported napping habits and leave out metrics like when and how regular those naps are,” said lead author Chenlu Gao, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Anesthesiology at Mass General Brigham, who is also an affiliated research fellow in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders in the Department of Medicine.
“Our study is one of the first to show an association between objectively measured nap patterns and mortality and suggests there is immense clinical value in tracking napping patterns to catch health conditions early.”
Filling Gaps in Napping Research
About 20 to 60% of older adults report taking naps. While occasional naps can be beneficial, excessive daytime sleep in older age has been tied to a broad range of health concerns. Even so, research on how napping relates to overall health has been limited. Many earlier studies did not include objective measurements, details about the timing of naps, or how patterns change from one day to the next.
To address these gaps, the research team used data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a long-running cohort study launched in 1997 that focuses on cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in older adults, most of whom are white and live in northern Illinois. Starting in 2005, participants wore wrist-based activity monitors for 10 days to record rest-activity cycles. Researchers used this data to analyze sleep behavior, including nap duration, frequency, timing, and day-to-day variation.
