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Protecting our brains should be top of mind as we get older.
The most conscientious make a point to get out and exercise, avoid smoking and keep tabs on blood pressure — maybe even protect their hearing, get vaccinated and listen to music to lower dementia risk.
But a seemingly harmless routine practiced by as many as a third to half of people over the age of 65 threatens to derail these efforts to keep dementia at bay.
New research from Johns Hopkins suggests that daytime napping is correlated with significantly increased dementia risk in adults 65 and older.
Napping during the day is common among older adults. Researchers say it may be because their nightly sleep is more fragmented and less deep, causing an urge to snooze when energy dips during the day.
Just like with younger folks — over 1 in 3 of whom also take daily naps, by the way — a good nap can channel a cup of coffee, boosting energy, alertness and productivity.
Often, naps are seen as a harmless and unavoidable part of getting older. But this new study shows that the frequency, length and spontaneity of the nap could influence the likelihood of developing dementia.
What researchers found
Those who napped most days or every day had a 48% higher risk of developing dementia over 10 years, compared to those who rarely or never napped, researchers found.
Those who napped frequently also had higher BMIs, a greater number of health conditions, stronger depressive symptoms and were more likely to have daytime sleepiness. They were also more likely to be men.
But how often people napped didn’t tell the full story. Unintentional napping — falling asleep without planning to — was associated with a 39% higher risk of dementia.
Nap length also mattered. Snoozes less than 30 minutes long were associated with a 40% higher risk of dementia. Other research indicates that longer naps are associated with cognitive decline.
Does napping cause dementia?
In short, the Johns Hopkins researchers don’t believe so.
“More frequent napping could be a marker of changes in the brain, rather than a cause of brain changes that lead to dementia,” said study author Adam Spira.
The relationship is likely more complicated. Napping could be affecting dementia risk, while degenerating brain regions (which occur during dementia) lead to more frequent napping.
Because of this, Spira’s team wanted to make sure increased napping wasn’t just an early symptom of dementia. So they analyzed their data, excluding dementia patients diagnosed within the first five years of the study.
They found the same relationship held: more frequent napping and shorter naps were associated with higher dementia risk down the road. This means increased napping habits appeared years before an official diagnosis of dementia
“Monitoring napping behaviors could serve as an early and accessible marker to help identify older adults at higher risk for dementia and guide targeted interventions for dementia prevention,” author Kening Jiang said.
While napping could serve as a marker for dementia in the future, researchers don’t believe there’s a causal relationship.
Authors say it’s possible that napping could be a modifiable risk factor for dementia, meaning future research could reveal whether changing napping habits might help lower the risk of developing the condition.