Excessive and early-day napping in older adults correlates with increased mortality risk.
New evidence suggests that nap habits in later life may serve as a measurable indicator of underlying health problems. Researchers from Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center followed 1,338 older adults for as long as 19 years, tracking their napping behavior alongside mortality outcomes.
The study indicated that longer naps, more frequent naps, and naps taken in the morning were all associated with increased mortality risk. The results were published in JAMA Network Open.
“Excessive napping later in life has been linked to neurodegeneration, cardiovascular diseases, and even greater morbidity, but many of those findings rely on self-reported napping habits and leave out metrics like when and how regular those naps are,” said lead author Chenlu Gao, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Anesthesiology at Mass General Brigham, who is also an affiliated research fellow in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders in the Department of Medicine.
“Our study is one of the first to show an association between objectively measured nap patterns and mortality and suggests there is immense clinical value in tracking napping patterns to catch health conditions early.”
Filling Gaps in Napping Research
About 20 to 60% of older adults report taking naps. While occasional naps can be beneficial, excessive daytime sleep in older age has been tied to a broad range of health concerns. Even so, research on how napping relates to overall health has been limited. Many earlier studies did not include objective measurements, details about the timing of naps, or how patterns change from one day to the next.
To address these gaps, the research team used data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a long-running cohort study launched in 1997 that focuses on cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in older adults, most of whom are white and live in northern Illinois. Starting in 2005, participants wore wrist-based activity monitors for 10 days to record rest-activity cycles. Researchers used this data to analyze sleep behavior, including nap duration, frequency, timing, and day-to-day variation.
Long-Term Data Collection and Methodology
By 2025, the dataset included 19 years of follow-up information from all 1,338 participants. The team examined how napping patterns measured at the start of the study related to all-cause mortality over the follow-up period. They found consistent links between higher mortality and longer naps, more frequent naps, and naps taken earlier in the day.
Each additional hour of daytime napping per day was tied to about a 13% increase in mortality risk. Each extra nap per day was associated with roughly a 7% increase, and individuals who napped in the morning faced a 30% higher risk compared to those who napped in the afternoon. Variability in nap timing from day to day was not linked to increased mortality.
“It is important to note that this is correlation, not causation. Excessive napping is likely indicating underlying disease, chronic conditions, sleep disturbances, or circadian dysregulation,” said Gao. “Now that we know there is a strong correlation between napping patterns and mortality rates, we can make the case to implement wearable daytime nap assessments to predict health conditions and prevent further decline.”
Reference: “Objectively Measured Daytime Napping Patterns and All-Cause Mortality in Older Adults” by Chenlu Gao, Ruixue Cai, Xi Zheng, Arlen Gaba, Lei Yu, Aron S. Buchman, David A. Bennett, Lei Gao, Kun Hu and Peng Li, 20 April 2026, JAMA Network Open.
DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.7938
This study is supported by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation (290-FP-22), the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity (AARFD-22-928372), the National Institution on Aging (RF1AG064312; R01AG083799). Gao C. is additionally supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (5T32HL007901). Li is additionally supported by the BrightFocus Foundation (A2020886S) and a start-up fund from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Hu is additionally supported by a start-up fund from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Gao L. is additionally supported by the Alzheimer’s Association (AACSF-23-1148490), National Institute on Aging (R03AG087439), American Academy of Sleep Medicine (352-DS-24), and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35GM160254). The Rush Memory and Aging Project is supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01AG056352 and R01AG017917).
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