{"id":10982,"date":"2022-03-17T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=114025"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T14:15:13","slug":"frequent-daytime-naps-could-be-an-early-warning-sign-for-dementia-in-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/frequent-daytime-naps-could-be-an-early-warning-sign-for-dementia-in-the-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"Frequent daytime naps could be an early warning sign for dementia in the elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 17 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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As we get on in years, most of us find ourselves more and more in need of the odd afternoon nap. But excessive daytime snoozing could be an early indication of cognitive impairment<\/a>, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other forms of dementia, a study carried out by researchers based at the University of California and Harvard Medical school have found.<\/p>\n

In the study, the team tracked data recorded from more than 1,400 participants with an average age of 81 who wore smart watches that monitored their daily activity.<\/p>\n

They then logged any period of more than a few minutes of inactivity the participants spent between the hours of 9am and 7pm. And then assessed changes in their cognitive abilities using lab-based tests once each year.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the study 75 per cent of participants had no cognitive impairment, while 20 per cent had mild cognitive impairment and just over 4 per cent had Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

They found that 24 per cent of the participants who had normal cognition at the start of the study went on to develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease six years later. Among this group, those who napped for more than one hour a day had a 40 per cent higher risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s, regardless of the amount and quality of sleep they got during the nighttime.<\/p>\n

The findings build on a previous study carried out at the University of Carolina in 2019 that found that the brains of those with Alzheimer\u2019s disease have fewer so-called \u2018wake-promoting\u2019 neurons<\/a> in several areas of their brains.<\/p>\n

These differences in brain structure are thought to be linked to tau tangles \u2013 a common biomarker of Alzheimer\u2019s disease that involves a misfolding and clumping together of proteins within the brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found the association between excessive daytime napping and dementia remained after adjusting for nighttime quantity and quality of sleep,\u201d said co-author Yue Leng<\/a>, of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. \u201cThis suggested that the role of daytime napping is important itself and is independent of nighttime sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we have enough evidence to draw conclusions about a causal relationship, that it\u2019s the napping itself that caused cognitive ageing, but excessive daytime napping might be a signal of accelerated ageing or cognitive ageing process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very interesting for future studies to explore whether intervention of naps may help slow down age-related cognitive decline.\u201d<\/p>\n