Summary: For older adults, a long morning nap might be more than just a restorative break—it could be a biological “red flag.” A study tracked 1,338 participants for nearly two decades using objective wearable technology.
Researchers found that longer, more frequent, and specifically morning naps are strongly associated with higher mortality rates, suggesting that shifting sleep patterns are an early warning sign of underlying neurodegeneration or cardiovascular decline.
Key Findings
- The “Restorative” Exception: While 20% to 60% of older adults nap, infrequent and short naps remain restorative. The risk is specifically tied to excessive and frequent daytime sleep.
- Consistency Matters: Interestingly, irregular napping patterns (napping one day but not the next) were not associated with increased mortality. It is the persistent, heavy napping habit that signals danger.
- Immense Clinical Value: The study advocates for the use of “daytime nap assessments” in clinical settings to prevent further health decline in aging populations.
Source: Mass General
New research reveals that as people age, naps may be an easily trackable warning sign of underlying conditions or declining health.
A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center followed 1,338 older adults for up to 19 years to track napping habits and associated mortality rates. They found longer, more frequent, and morning naps were associated with higher mortality rates.
Their results are published in JAMA Network Open.
“Excessive napping later in life has been linked to neurodegeneration, cardiovascular diseases and even greater morbidity, but many of those findings rely on self-reported napping habits and leave out metrics like when and how regular those naps are,” said lead author Chenlu Gao, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Anesthesiology in the Mass General Brigham, who is also an affiliated research fellow in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders in the Department of Medicine.
“Our study is one of the first to show an association between objectively measured nap patterns and mortality and suggests there is immense clinical value in tracking napping patterns to catch health conditions early.”
Between 20 and 60% of older adults take naps. While infrequent napping can be restorative, excessive daytime napping in old age has been linked to a wide range of health issues. Despite these associations, the relationship between napping and health in older individuals has been understudied, and those that have been conducted lack objective napping pattern data, time of day naps took place, and changes in napping patterns from day-to-day.
To close this knowledge gap, Mass General Brigham researchers turned to data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, which began in 1997 as a cohort study primarily centered on the cognition and neurodegeneration of older, mainly white individuals in northern Illinois.
Beginning in 2005, participants wore wrist activity monitors for 10-days to measure rest-activity data. The team extracted sleep patterns from the extensive rest-activity data and mapped nap length, frequency, time of day, and day-to-day variability.
By 2025, 19 years’ worth of data were collected from 1,338 total participants. The researchers analyzed the data for associations between napping patterns at the initial assessment and all-cause mortality during the 19-year follow-up, finding that longer, more frequent, and morning naps were all associated with higher mortality.
Each additional hour of daytime napping per day was associated with around 13% higher mortality risk; each extra nap per day was associated with around 7% higher mortality risk; and morning nappers had 30% higher mortality risk compared to afternoon nappers. Irregular napping patterns were not associated with any increased mortality risk.
“It is important to note that this is correlation not causation. Excessive napping is likely indicating underlying disease, chronic conditions, sleep disturbances, or circadian dysregulation,” said Gao. “Now that we know there is a strong correlation between napping patterns and mortality rates, we can make the case to implement wearable daytime nap assessments to predict health conditions and prevent further decline.”
Authorship: In addition to Gao and Li, Mass General Brigham authors include Ruixue Cai, Xi Zheng, Arlen Gaba, Lei Gao, and Kun Hu. Additional authors include Lei Yu, Aron S. Buchman, and David A. Bennett.
Disclosures: Li has received a monetary gift to support research from iFutureLab. Li serves on the iFutureLab-HEKA Scientific Advisory Board as the Chair of Cardiac Dynamics and Honorary Life-Time Co-Founder and has received consulting fees.
Li has also received honorarium for lecturing from Shandong University. Hu serves on the iFutureLab-HEKA Scientific Advisory Board as the Chair of Medical Biodynamics and Honorary Life-Time Co-Founder and has received consulting fees.
The interests of Li and Hu were reviewed and managed by Mass General Brigham following their conflict of interest policies. These interests are not related to the current work.
Funding: This study is supported by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation (290-FP-22), the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity (AARFD-22-928372), the National Institution on Aging (RF1AG064312; R01AG083799). Gao C. is additionally supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (5T32HL007901).
Li is additionally supported by the BrightFocus Foundation (A2020886S) and a start-up fund from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Hu is additionally supported by a start-up fund from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Gao L. is additionally supported by the Alzheimer’s Association (AACSF-23-1148490), National Institute on Aging (R03AG087439), American Academy of Sleep Medicine (352-DS-24), and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35GM160254). The Rush Memory and Aging Project is supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01AG056352 and R01AG017917).
The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Key Questions Answered:
A: No. The study highlights excessive napping, specifically, additional hours or multiple naps per day. Short, infrequent naps are still considered a healthy way to recharge for many people.
A: A morning nap is a major indicator of “sleep pressure” or circadian rhythm failure. It suggests that the person did not get restorative sleep at night or that their brain’s internal clock is significantly misaligned, which is often linked to neurodegeneration.
A: Yes. The researchers suggest that the “clinical value” lies in using objective data from wearables. If you notice your (or a loved one’s) napping frequency and duration are creeping up over time, it may be worth a conversation with a doctor.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this sleep and neurology research news
Author: Cassandra Falone
Source: Mass General
Contact: Cassandra Falone – Mass General
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Objectively Measured Daytime Napping and All-cause Mortality in Older Adults” by Chenlu Gao, Ruixue Cai, Xi Zheng, Arlen Gaba, Lei Yu, Aron S. Buchman, David A. Bennett, Lei Gao, Kun Hu, and Peng Li. JAMA Network Open
DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.7938
Abstract
Objectively Measured Daytime Napping and All-cause Mortality in Older Adults
Importance
Daytime napping is common among older adults, but evidence linking objective daytime nap patterns to mortality is limited, as prior studies relied largely on self-report. Some daytime nap characteristics, such as timing and variability of nap duration across days, are also understudied.
Objective
To test whether actigraphy-measured daytime nap duration, frequency, variability, and timing are associated with all-cause mortality.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This prospective cohort study used data from the population-based Rush Memory and Aging Project, in which the analytic baseline was initiated in August 2005. Participants in this current study were community-dwelling adults aged 56 years or older in northern Illinois, with up to 19 years of follow-up. Data for this study were gathered until April 2025.
Main Outcome and Measures
Daytime napping, defined as sleeping between 9 am and 7 pm and assessed by up to 14 days of actigraphy data. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate associations between baseline daytime nap characteristics (duration, frequency, variability in duration across days, and timing) and subsequent all-cause mortality.
Results
Among 1338 participants over a mean (SD) follow-up of 8.30 (4.78) years (mean [SD] participant age, 81.40 [7.39] years; 1018 [76.0%] female), 926 (69.2%) died at a mean (SD) of 7.54 (4.52) years (range, 0.08-19.08 years) after analytic baseline. Participants wore the actigraphy device for a mean (SD) of 9.58 (1.22) days.
After adjusting for all covariates, longer daytime nap duration (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] per 1-hour increase, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.04-1.23; P = .005) and higher nap frequency (AHR per additional daily nap, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.13; P = .003) at baseline were associated with increased mortality. Morning nappers had higher mortality risk compared with early afternoon nappers (AHR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.03-1.64; P = .03). Variability in daytime nap duration was not associated with mortality after covariate adjustment (AHR per 1-hour increase, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.89-1.14; P = .93).
Conclusions and Relevance
In this prospective cohort study of community-dwelling older adults, longer and more frequent daytime napping, especially in the morning, were associated with higher all-cause mortality. The findings suggest incorporating wearable device–based daytime nap assessments into clinical and public health practices may provide novel opportunities for early risk identification of health conditions.
