New research to increase daytime naps Mortality rate In older people, they may rethink that daytime snooze.
The study, published last month at Sleep 2025, the 39th Annual Meeting of Related Specialist Sleep Society in Seattle, Washington, found that frequent, longer, irregular daytime naps, especially early afternoons, are associated with a higher risk of death over eight years.
“Our research fills the knowledge gap,” lead author Chenlu Gao, a postdoctoral researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Fox News Digital.
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The study shows that “not only does someone take a nap, but how long it will fluctuate, how much nap during the day may be a meaningful indicator of the future.” Health risksHe said.
The study included 86,565 participants, an average of 63 years of age (all worked on regular daytime schedules). These detect movements during sleep, but not brain activity.
Scientists defined daytime naps as sleeping from 9am to 7pm
After the initial study, the researchers maintained the tab of participants for eight years, finding that 5,189 (6.0%) died during that period.
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The study showed that longer naps were associated with higher mortality rates when napping between 11am and 1pm or between 1pm and 3pm.
We adjusted for results for other potential factors affecting mortality, such as demographics, weight, and smoking. Alcohol consumption And the researchers said how long they sleep at night.
“Nails aren’t necessarily an issue unless they’re used to compensate for chronic sleep deprivation at night,” said Dr. Chelsea Rollshave, a neuroscientist and sleep expert at Wesper in New York.
“To maintain good health and reduce the risk of developing dangerous medical conditions, you need to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep. Heart disease And added Rohrscheib, who was not involved in the study.
This study did not establish evidence that NAP directly affects the risk of death.
“These are associations,” GAO told Fox News Digital. “From this study we cannot conclude whether naps can cause poor health.”
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Another potential limitation is that “quiet awakening” may be misclassified as sleep, as this study relied on detection of movement rather than brain activity.
Furthermore, defining daytime naps as sleep between 9am and 7pm could have been incorrectly included participants. Actual sleepaffects the accuracy of what counts as a nap, the researchers said.
Excessive nap is another marker Health issueschronic disease, systemic inflammation, or disruption of circadian rhythms, can increase the risk of death itself.
“People who need a daily nap to get through the day are likely to either not get enough sleep at night or have a fundamental health condition that causes daytime sleepiness,” Rollshave noted.
GAO said, “More research is needed to understand causality before we can conclude that certain types of nap patterns are useful for health.”
“However, we recommend that monitoring nap patterns may help identify health status early so that interventions can be implemented accordingly.”
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine encourages healthy adults to limit naps to within 20-30 minutes in the early afternoon.
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A short “power nap” can improve daytime awakening and performance, but naps over 30 minutes can sometimes feel like stealing someone after waking up. This moodiness, or “sleep inertia,” can slow down the short-term benefits of napping, experts say.
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Overall, the findings suggest that moderation is important when it comes to daytime dozing off. Nap patterns suggest that they could be a window into broader health concerns. Healthcare provider.
