Overview
- Coverage Tuesday and Wednesday reported that a Johns Hopkins analysis of roughly 995 U.S. adults aged 65 and older found napping most days was associated with a 48% higher risk of developing dementia over about 10 years.
- The study also linked falling asleep unintentionally during the day to a 39% higher dementia risk and naps of 30 minutes or less to about a 40% higher risk.
- Those associations held after researchers removed participants diagnosed within the first five years, which suggests changes in daytime sleep may appear years before a clinical dementia diagnosis.
- Authors stress the results are observational, note the data came from self-reported nap habits and algorithmic dementia classification, and call for objective wearable sleep measurement, clinical evaluation, and intervention trials to test causation.
- Because daytime napping is common in older adults and dementia is a growing global burden, researchers say monitoring nap patterns could become an accessible early clue for who needs further evaluation and support.