Longer and More Frequent Daytime Naps—Especially in the Morning—Linked to Higher Mortality Risk

In older adults, longer and more frequent daytime naps, particularly those occurring in the morning, were associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality based on objective actigraphy measurements. In this prospective cohort study from the US Rush Memory and Aging Project, 1,338 community-dwelling adults (mean age 81.4 years, 76% women) were followed for an average of 8.3 years, during which 69.2% died. Daytime napping—defined as sleep between 9 am and 7 pm—was assessed using wearable actigraphy devices over approximately 10 days at baseline. After adjusting for multiple covariates, each additional hour of daily napping was associated with a 13% higher mortality risk, and each additional daily nap increased risk by 7%. Moreover, individuals who napped primarily in the morning had a 30% higher mortality risk compared with those who napped in the early afternoon, while variability in nap duration across days was not significantly associated with mortality. These findings suggest that objectively measured daytime napping patterns may serve as important behavioral markers of underlying health status, and integrating wearable-based sleep assessments into clinical and public health practice could help identify individuals at elevated risk earlier. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/