Nap Time of Older Adults During Noon Sign of Dementia, Experts Says

According to new research, the chronic napping of a person when the sun is up could be a sign of dementia. This unusual symptom was observed by experts in the age group of older adults.

According to the study authors, the cycle of regular daytime sleeping in short periods of time might have a strong association with the crippling neurological disorder that could snatch memories off of a patient.

Seniors Who Nap During Daytime 40 Percent Likely to Develop Alzheimer's Disease

(Photo: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels)

Scholars from the prestigious University of California San Francisco and Harvard University collaborated to find additional symptoms that we might not have thought of before. Their research included almost a decade's worth of data from participants that ranged 80 years of age and up.

The findings from the investigation revealed that seniors who nap at least once a day during high noon are 40 percent more likely at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, known as one of the prominent types of illnesses under dementia.

In the study, the experts found that the length of people's shut-eye was factorial at developing the brain condition. Moreover, individuals who take more duration of noontime snooze, particularly those who exceed more than an hour, tend to develop the illness.

UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences expert and lead author of the study Yue Leng explained that nap times have no correlation with how the brain ages.

However, the excessive time for short sleeping during noon could be a symptom of accelerated aging or cognitive aging process, Leng continued.

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Dementia and Daytime Naps of Older Adults

Previous studies have already shown how the toxic substances and proteins that enable Alzheimer's disease impact the regions of the brain responsible for keeping people alert and awake.

Dementia is among the top neurological diseases that drive the highest death toll in many countries, DailyMail reports. Patients of brain disease sum up to 900,000 in the United Kingdom and five million in the United States.

Dementia still has no cure, but there are numerous treatments, such as therapies that could slow down its development. These initiatives could work at its best when the progression of the illness is detected as early as possible.

With that said, the scientific community is finding every possible way to detect early signs of dementia to provide patients with the proper treatments to fit their state.

The new study was made possible through the help of over 1,400 older adults that averaged 81 years of age. Each of the participants were monitored by the authors through a mobility tracking device. The observation ran in a two-week period each year throughout a 14-year examination.

The authors considered any prolonged non-activity between 9AM to 7PM as a nap. Alongside the tracking approach, the experts required each patient to undergo cognitive evaluation once each year.

After six years, a quarter of the population with no previous cognitive impairment detected developed Alzheimer's disease. Leng explained that they found daytime naps independent from nighttime sleeping.

People who did not show any signs of brain disease were also observed to increase their nap time that averaged to 11 minutes per year. The participants with mild cognitive impairment increased to 24 minutes, and the group who developed Alzheimer's disease increased to 68 minutes.

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, titled "Daytime napping and Alzheimer's dementia: A potential bidirectional relationship."