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Picture this. I had a great lunch; suddenly, I felt sleepy at 2 PM. I decided to sleep for a while, but 30 minutes later I woke up to check the time.
If you have been to Spain or countries once colonized by Spain, siesta is already a part of the tradition.
Siesta, or an afternoon nap (in English), is typically taken after lunch until 3 PM. Some people take it for an hour or two, or as brief as 30 minutes.
As someone who does siesta both as a traditional activity and a physical recharge, I always thought it was nothing but beneficial.
So, if someone claims that this routine is unhealthy, I will be shocked and demand answers. Because calling it connected to a “dangerous disorder” could feel insulting.
Does that claim tell the whole truth?
Like me, most of you who take afternoon naps might feel insulted. But slow down; let’s not rush to believe what others claimed.
Scrutinizing this information is the only way to know whether an afternoon nap is truly linked to a dangerous disorder, as others claimed.
Let’s dig into what we have gathered so far.
Who Did the Experts Study? (Don’t Worry, It’s Not You)
Researchers at Johns Hopkins studied the napping behavior among older adults.
Since 2013, they have monitored about 1,000 older adults in the US. These older adults are over 65 years old, registered members of Medicare, and have no history of dementia from the day they were first tracked. The researchers conducted a 10-year study about their health.
Even news outlets emphasized that the older adults were the research subjects. If you’re a young adult and you often take afternoon naps, the study doesn’t concern you or your health.
What Was Discovered?
The researchers evaluated the selected older adults based on how often, how willing, and how long they nap.
HealthDay and Vision Monday have reported the following discoveries:
- Frequent afternoon naps increase the risk of having dementia to 48%. Compared to older adults who nap sometimes or never at all.
- Naps of less than 30 minutes increase the health risk to 40%.
- Unplanned naps also increase the health risk by 39%.
Despite being labeled as a “healthy routine,” shorter, unplanned, and frequent naps are linked to higher health risk among older adults.
Napping Causes Dementia?
The researchers never confirmed that napping directly causes dementia. But their study pointed out that napping habits can affect a person’s health and memory.
However, associating bad napping behavior with dementia is based on results gathered from the older adults’ responses. Dementia was not detected through a full clinical diagnosis of an older adult, but through response analysis.
Researchers evaluated the connection between bad napping behavior and dementia. Early manifestations of dementia show that the brain area responsible for staying awake is affected.
In the first 5 years, the researchers noted that a consistent bad napping routine happens before a dementia diagnosis. Persistent napping is an early clue that someone might have dementia.
Further medical diagnosis is required to confirm whether the patient indeed has dementia.
A Partial Result Isn’t a Whole Outcome
In a separate study, researchers evaluated 1,401 older adults who are 81 or older.
The results show that napping becomes more regular as age increases, but it may lead to mental decline when napping happens for too long.
Napping isn’t entirely the main cause of mental decline among older adults, but it could help explain their mental state.
Connection to Nighttime Sleeping Behavior
Johns Hopkins researcher Adam Spira explained that afternoon napping affects your nighttime rest.
Sensible idea, because an afternoon nap makes it harder for you to sleep at night. If you nap frequently in the afternoon, it disrupts your nighttime rest cycle more often.
Because the results are inconclusive, the researchers aim to utilize detailed, objective tools in the future to measure afternoon naps and nighttime sleep rather than relying on survey answers.
Recommendations From What We’ve Learned
Based on the study’s outcome, some behaviors can smoothen your afternoon naps. The goal is to do it well, and not to sleep like a log.
These are not medical treatments, but some tips we need to bear in mind:
- List your observations on people who are constantly napping, whether it is smooth or has moments of falling off.
- Document all the observations, planned naps, and duration of those naps.
- Make some comparisons between your afternoon naps and nighttime sleeping.
- Set your planned naps for the week and do them.
- When someone has trouble sleeping or remembering memories, consult a health professional. If you documented or listed your napping moments, it can help the doctors provide accurate findings on your health condition.
Does Napping Actually Cause Dementia?
That’s the first impression you can get from the headline. It makes you feel dreadful and panicked.
But without context, the question can become subject to being misinterpreted, and all of us feel that way. If that’s the question, the answer is a straight NO.
However, frequent, unplanned chair falls among older adults can be an early sign that must be reported to a doctor as soon as possible.
Bad napping behavior affects older adults. But younger adults must not remain complacent. The advantage of being young is that a bad nap routine can easily be fixed.
Young adults can also help older adults document their napping behavior. If you truly care for them, that’s how we can help.
No matter how old you are, remember that naps and sleep are not the same. Plan it, do it well, and remind yourself not to do it for more than a few hours.