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Dementia risk may be linked to seemingly harmless daily habit, new research suggests
AOL.com • • health
Key Points:
- A study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that frequent daytime napping in adults aged 65 and older is associated with a 48% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who rarely or never nap.
- Unintentional naps and shorter naps (30 minutes or less) were linked to increased dementia risk, with unintentional napping associated with a 39% higher risk and short naps linked to a 40% increased risk.
- The study suggests that changes in daytime napping habits may serve as early indicators of brain changes related to dementia, as brain regions regulating wakefulness can deteriorate in early stages of the disease.
- These associations remained significant even after adjusting for nighttime sleep duration, daytime drowsiness, and sleep apnea, and after excluding participants who developed dementia within the first five years of the study.
- Researchers caution that this observational study does not establish causation but highlights the potential value of monitoring daytime napping patterns as markers for future dementia risk in older adults.
