New study finds troubling link between involuntary naps and dementia

When the weather permits, napping is an activity enjoyed by adults of all ages. But not all nap habits are recommended. In fact, some behaviors may even be a red flag.

A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health linked frequent, involuntary naps in older adults to a higher risk of dementia. The study, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, followed just under 1,000 adults ages 65 and older for 10 years. None of the elderly people had dementia at the start of the study.

Participants self-reported their napping habits, including how often they napped, the length of their naps, and whether they napped intentionally or unintentionally, which the researchers defined as falling asleep unintentionally, such as dozing off on the couch while reading a book.

Compared to people who rarely or never took a nap, those who took a nap every day or almost every day had a 48% increased risk of developing dementia. People who took a nap of less than 30 minutes had a 40% higher risk of dementia. Those who napped unintentionally had a 39% higher risk.

This does not mean that napping causes dementia, the researchers emphasize.

“More frequent naps may be a marker of changes in the brain, rather than a cause of brain changes leading to dementia,” Adam Spira, the lead author of the study, said in a press release.

This does not mean that stop smoking your afternoon nap will reduce your risk of dementia.

The study authors acknowledge that this research cannot tell us Whether stopping someone from napping would protect against dementia, said Dr. Heather Elizabeth Whitson, director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development in North Carolina. Whitson is not affiliated with the research. “Would interrupting this behavior protect against dementia? We certainly can’t conclude that from the study,” Whitson added.

The researchers also noted “that many studies find the opposite or find no results at all,” Dr. Mario Dulay, a neuropsychologist at Houston Methodist, told HuffPost. Dulay is not affiliated with the research.

The study also has other limitations. Respondents self-reported their nap habits, which could leave room for errors in recalling the exact frequency and duration of their naps.

But “the relationship between sleep and dementia is undeniable, and it’s also very complicated,” Whitson added. There is a link between poor nighttime sleep and dementia, but “even that has been difficult to establish because we know it’s probably what we call ‘bidirectional,'” she continued.

This means that if you “already have neurodegenerative changes in your brain, one of the ways that can manifest is that it disrupts your sleep. And also, people are increasingly convinced… that having disrupted sleep at night is also a risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative problem and dementia.”

“A lot of housekeeping” is also thought to happen in the brain when you sleep, such as flushing out toxins and naturally repairing mechanisms, Whitson said. So, without quality sleep, these important processes cannot take place.

These results don’t mean that all naps are bad. After a night or early in the morning, a planned nap can be helpful – and even healthy.

“The data really suggests that what’s most problematic are these unintentional, short-duration naps,” Whitson said, noting that intentional, longer naps don’t seem so negative.

What exactly is the ideal length for a nap? Dulay said 45 minutes was a good goal.

“To go through the whole sleep cycle, where you get REM sleep and all the stages of sleep, it takes about 45 minutes,” Dulay explained.

However, you don’t have to be completely strict with the 45 minute rule. If you stayed up late and want to take time for an hour-long nap the next day, that’s OK, Whitson said.

“And you do that rarely and only because there was an event last night that disrupted your sleep,” she said. “Nothing in this article suggests to me that this is harmful to people.”

According to this research, it’s also not a concern if you come from a culture where naps (an early afternoon nap) are common. “If people are doing this because it’s a cultural norm, that’s probably not a problem either,” Whitson noted.

While the sleeping grandmother or the snoring grandfather are common tropes in anime, unintentionally falling asleep during the day is a common practice. not a normal part of aging.

About a quarter of study participants reported frequent involuntary napping, Whitson noted. This means that the majority of older adults in this study did so. not falling asleep without wanting to.

If you find yourself falling asleep unintentionally during the day, consider this a sign to talk to your doctor. While this could be related to dementia, it could also be a sign of a treatable condition like obstructive sleep apnea, Whitson said.

Even if you are diagnosed with dementia, there are now therapies for Alzheimer’s disease “and a lot of things are in the works,” she said, before adding that there are currently more than 190 randomized human protocols testing interventions for diseases that cause dementia.

“This is the time to break the stigma or fear,” Whitson said.

Getting a dementia diagnosis today is very different from getting one ten years ago, or even five years ago, she added. It’s best to know what’s going on with your health so that you, your family, and your healthcare team can design the appropriate treatments and interventions to keep you safe.