Intermediate, But Not Extended, Afternoon Naps May Preserve Cognition in Chinese Older Adults

Abstract

Results suggest that afternoon naps less than 90 minutes may be beneficial for cognition in older adults, while long afternoon naps may be detrimental.

Napping characteristics and cognitive performance in older adults

“…Importantly, in laboratory settings, nap duration can be controlled, and lab‐based studies had small samples of healthy older adults, rather than community‐based samples with greater medical morbidity. To a degree, our results are also in line with studies linking moderate‐duration naps (30‐90 minutes) with better cognition 13 and improvements in cognition . However, those studies tied moderate‐duration naps to better performance on a combined score from three cognitive assessments.…”

“…However, conflicting findings may be due to measurement differences. For instance, a UK‐based study found napping to be protective with respect to cognitive decline, but only included older adults who were cognitively unimpaired at baseline and did not examine napping intention or frequency; other studies in China only assessed afternoon (ie, post‐lunch) nap duration …”

“…For instance, a UK-based study found napping to be protective with respect to cognitive decline, but only included older adults who were cognitively unimpaired at baseline and did not examine napping intention or frequency 8 ; other studies in China only assessed afternoon (ie, post-lunch) nap duration. 13,14 When we explored interactions among napping characteristics, we found that, among intentional nappers, those who took long naps had lower IWR scores than short nappers, but there was no such association among unintentional nappers. Given our finding that unintentional napping is associated with poorer IWR compared with intentional napping, this suggests that unintentional naps are linked to poorer cognition regardless of duration, and that long intentional naps may be a marker of, or contributor to, poorer cognition among older adults.…”

“…6 The mixed evidence linking napping and cognition may be partially attributable to the use of limited measures of napping, such as binary measures of napping (yes/no) or nap duration. 8,11,13,14 Napping, however, can vary by frequency, duration, timing, and intentionality, which these coarser measures do not capture. Napping intention is important to study because intentional naps are qualitatively different from unintentional naps.…”

Napping, functional capacity and satisfaction with life in older adults: A population‐based study

“…It should be noted that a more detailed assessment of napping is important, including the analysis of the frequency and duration of the naps. Short‐term naps (<90 min) are beneficial to health (Li et al, ), whereas long‐term and a higher frequency of naps may be detrimental (Cross et al, ; Li et al, ; Wang, Hao, Bo, & Li, ).…”