Frequent Daytime Napping Linked to Early Signs of Health Decline in Older Adults

Apr 21, 2026

A 19-year study tracking 1,338 older adults found that frequent and prolonged daytime napping is associated with significantly higher mortality risk, with each additional hour of napping linked to 13% higher mortality and each extra nap to 7% higher risk. The Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center research, which monitored participants using wrist activity devices and recorded 926 deaths over a mean 7.54-year follow-up, revealed that morning nappers faced 30% higher mortality compared to afternoon nappers. Researchers suggest these napping patterns may serve as early warning signs of underlying conditions like cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, or sleep disorders rather than direct causes of death, though infrequent napping can be restorative for the 20-60% of older adults who nap.

Napping Patterns as Mortality Predictors in Older Adults

▪Each additional hour of daytime napping per day was associated with approximately 13% higher mortality risk in older adults.
▪A study tracked 1,338 older adults for up to 19 years to examine the relationship between napping habits and mortality rates.
▪Among the 1,338 participants in the Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center napping study, 926 participants died during a mean follow-up of 7.54 years.

Timing, Duration, and Frequency: Which Napping Habits Signal Risk

▪Morning nappers had 30% higher mortality risk compared to afternoon nappers in the Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center study.
▪Variability in daytime nap duration was not associated with mortality after covariate adjustment in the Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center study.
▪Morning nappers had higher mortality risk compared with early afternoon nappers, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.30.
▪The Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center study defined daytime napping as sleeping between 9 am and 7 pm.

Clinical Applications of Wearable Sleep Monitoring

▪The Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center napping study collected 19 years' worth of data from 1,338 total participants by 2025.
▪The Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center napping study used data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, which began in 1997.
▪Participants in the Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center napping study wore actigraphy devices for a mean of 9.58 days.
▪The Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center napping study used wrist activity monitors worn for 10 days to measure rest-activity data starting in 2005.