03 Jun , 16:29
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Alarming discovery: daytime naps may shorten life, scientists from the prestigious journal SLEEP found out. The study showed that middle-aged and older people who allow themselves to nap for more than half an hour during the day risk facing premature death. Particularly dangerous were irregular nap breaks and the habit of falling asleep between 11 AM and 3 PM.
Scientists from Harvard Medical School launched a large-scale study involving nearly 87 thousand volunteers from the UK Biobank. The average age of participants at the start of observations was 63 years. During the experiment, volunteers continuously wore special activity sensors on their wrists for a whole week, which ensured accurate registration of all sleep periods. Any sleep episode from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM was classified as a daytime nap.
Over the 11-year observation period, more than 5 thousand participants (about 6%) died. Scrupulous analysis of the collected information revealed three main risk factors: daytime sleep duration over 30-40 minutes, inconsistency in daytime rest schedule, and the tendency to fall asleep in the middle of the day. In their analysis, scientists took into account other risk factors for premature death, including body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, and quality of night sleep.
"Our data show that people with longer daytime naps, irregular daytime rest schedules, or the habit of sleeping in the middle of the day are at increased risk of not living to old age, even taking into account their general health condition and lifestyle," the study authors emphasize.
The specific mechanisms behind this relationship remain a mystery to science. Researchers put forward two possible hypotheses: either prolonged and irregular daytime sleep is a signal of hidden health problems, or such a rest schedule itself disrupts the body's natural biorhythms, which negatively affects life expectancy.
