Are objectively measured daytime nap characteristics, including duration, frequency, variability, and timing, associated with all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older adults?
A study published on April 20, 2026 entitled Objectively Measured Daytime Napping Patterns and All-Cause Mortality in Older Adults concluded: “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.”
The prospective cohort study of 1,338 adults aged 56 years or older found that longer and more frequent daytime napping, as well as morning napping, were associated with higher all-cause mortality, and that variability in nap duration was not associated with mortality. Daytime napping was defined as sleeping between 9 am and 7 pm. Between 20% and 60% of older adults take naps during the day.
A recent study found that variability in nap duration was associated with increased Alzheimer disease pathology at death. Thus, timing and variability in relation to mortality are crucial aspects of nap behaviors for investigation.
Older participants in the study had longer nap duration and greater variability in duration. Early-afternoon nappers were older than morning and late afternoon nappers. Early afternoon nappers had lower variability in nap duration than late afternoon nappers.
The researchers found that longer nap duration at analytic baseline was associated with increased mortality during follow-up. Each 1-hour increase in nap duration was associated with higher mortality in the basic and intermediate models. In the full model, each 1-hour increase in nap duration was also associated with higher risk of mortality.
“We found that older individuals with longer nap duration, more frequent naps, and a tendency to nap in the morning were at greater mortality risk over up to 19 years of follow-up. These findings suggest that excessive and morning napping may signal late-life vulnerability.”
“[M]onitoring changes in a patient’s nap patterns over time may facilitate the identification of individuals who might be at elevated health risk. With the growing use of wearable sleep trackers, there is an opportunity to objectively monitor nap patterns at scale. Integrating wearable device–based measures of naps into routine care or electronic health records could enable clinicians to identify older adults with high daytime sleep burdens and initiate timely evaluations or preventive interventions.”
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