Summary: For older adults, a long morning nap may be more than just rest — it could signal underlying health problems. A prospective study of 1,338 older adults monitored for up to 19 years using objective wearable devices found that longer, more frequent, and especially morning naps were associated with higher all-cause mortality.
Researchers observed that occasional short naps remain restorative for many older adults, but persistent, excessive daytime sleeping—measured objectively with wrist actigraphy—correlated with elevated mortality risk. The findings suggest that changes in napping behavior can serve as an early, trackable warning sign of neurodegenerative or cardiovascular decline.
Key Findings
- The restorative exception: Twenty to sixty percent of older adults nap. Short, infrequent naps are typically restorative and not associated with increased risk; the concern arises with repeated, extended daytime sleeping.
- Consistency and risk: Irregular napping—napping on one day but not the next—was not linked to higher mortality. It was the consistent pattern of long or multiple naps that showed a clear association with worse outcomes.
- Clinical value of wearables: Objectively measured nap patterns from wearables may provide clinicians with a practical tool to identify older adults at higher risk and prompt earlier evaluation for underlying conditions.
Source: Mass General Brigham
New evidence indicates that monitoring daytime napping patterns could help detect underlying health decline in older adults.
Investigators from Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center analyzed data from 1,338 community-dwelling older adults collected over up to 19 years. Using wrist-worn activity monitors, the team objectively measured daytime rest and sleep to determine nap duration, frequency, timing, and day-to-day variability. Their results, published in JAMA Network Open, show that longer daily nap hours, more frequent naps, and naps taken in the morning were all associated with higher mortality during follow-up.
The study authors emphasize that their work uses objective actigraphy measures rather than self-reported nap habits, allowing more precise assessment of when naps occur and how regular they are. Lead author Chenlu Gao, PhD, noted that prior research often relied on self-report and lacked detailed metrics such as timing of naps and daily variability.
The data derive from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a long-standing cohort study that began in 1997 and focuses on cognition and aging. Starting in 2005, participants wore wrist activity monitors for approximately 10 days at baseline to record rest-activity patterns. From those recordings the researchers quantified nap length, number of naps per day, morning versus afternoon timing, and variability across days.
Analysis incorporated up to 19 years of follow-up through 2025. The researchers reported that each additional hour of daytime napping was associated with about a 13% higher risk of death from any cause. Each additional nap per day correlated with roughly a 7% higher mortality risk. Participants who napped in the morning faced approximately a 30% higher mortality risk compared with those who napped in the early afternoon. By contrast, variability in nap duration from day to day did not independently predict mortality after adjusting for other factors.
The authors stress that these are associations and not evidence of causation. Excessive daytime sleep likely signals underlying illness, chronic conditions, nighttime sleep disturbances, or circadian rhythm disruption rather than being a direct cause of mortality. Nevertheless, the consistent associations support the idea of incorporating wearable-based daytime nap assessments into routine clinical practice to identify individuals who may benefit from further evaluation.
Authorship: Chenlu Gao and Peng Li are among the lead authors. Additional contributors from Mass General Brigham and collaborating institutions include Ruixue Cai, Xi Zheng, Arlen Gaba, Lei Gao, Kun Hu, Lei Yu, Aron S. Buchman, and David A. Bennett.
Disclosures: Some authors have received research support or consulting fees related to iFutureLab and other organizations; these interests were disclosed and managed by Mass General Brigham and are unrelated to the present analysis.
Funding: The study was supported by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity, the National Institute on Aging, and other institutional and federal grants. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.
Key Questions Answered:
A: No. This study draws attention to excessive napping—longer daily nap durations or multiple naps per day. Short, infrequent naps (for example, a 20-minute power nap) are generally restorative and not linked to the increased risk described here.
A: Morning napping more strongly indicates elevated sleep pressure or circadian rhythm disruption. It can reflect poor nighttime sleep quality or internal clock misalignment, which are commonly associated with neurodegenerative processes and other health problems.
A: Yes. The investigators highlight the value of objective data from wearables. If you notice a sustained increase in the frequency or duration of naps for yourself or a loved one, it may warrant a medical discussion and evaluation.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- The full journal paper was reviewed.
- Additional contextual details were provided by the editorial staff.
About this sleep and neurology research news
Author: Cassandra Falone
Source: Mass General Brigham
Contact: Cassandra Falone – Mass General Brigham
Image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Objectively Measured Daytime Napping and All-cause Mortality in Older Adults” by Chenlu Gao et al., 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 in later life, but most prior studies relied on self-report and therefore provided limited, sometimes inconsistent, evidence about how objectively measured nap features relate to mortality. Important nap characteristics such as timing and day-to-day variability have been understudied.
Objective
To assess whether actigraphy-measured nap duration, frequency, timing, and variability are associated with all-cause mortality in older adults.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This prospective cohort study used baseline actigraphy data collected beginning in August 2005 from community-dwelling adults aged 56 years or older in northern Illinois as part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, with follow-up through April 2025.
Main Outcome and Measures
Daytime napping, defined as sleep episodes between 9 am and 7 pm as measured by up to 14 days of actigraphy. Cox proportional hazards models estimated associations between baseline nap characteristics and subsequent all-cause mortality.
Results
Among 1,338 participants (mean age about 81 years; 76% female) with an average follow-up of 8.3 years, longer daytime nap duration and higher nap frequency were independently associated with increased mortality after adjustment for covariates. Morning nappers had higher mortality risk compared with early afternoon nappers; variability in nap duration across days was not associated with mortality after adjustment.
Conclusions and Relevance
In this cohort of older adults, longer and more frequent daytime naps, especially morning naps, were associated with greater all-cause mortality. These findings support the potential role of wearable device–based daytime nap monitoring in clinical and public health approaches to identify older adults at higher risk and prompt timely evaluation.