Latest news with #ChenluGao
Time of India
03-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Napping too much after 60? New study links long afternoon snoozes to higher death risk
A new study says that older adults who nap too much during the day may have a higher risk of death. This study was presented at SLEEP 2025, a big sleep science event in Seattle, Washington. The research looked at daytime naps, especially longer and irregular naps in the early afternoon, and found these were linked to a higher death risk over 8 years, as per the report by Fox News Digital. Chenlu Gao, the study's lead author and a postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital, said they wanted to understand more than just if people nap — but also how long, when, and how often. The study had 86,565 participants with an average age of 63. All had regular daytime jobs, as per reports. Naps between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. were most risky These people wore devices that tracked their movement during sleep. It didn't check brain activity though. Scientists defined daytime napping as sleep between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Over the next 8 years, 5,189 people (6%) from the study died, as stated in the report by Fox News Digital. People who napped between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. or took longer naps had higher chances of dying during those 8 years. The study also adjusted for other death risk factors like age, weight, smoking, alcohol, and night sleep time. Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, a sleep expert from Wesper, New York, who wasn't part of the study, said naps are okay unless they're used to make up for bad night sleep, according to the report by Fox News Digital. Long naps might mean you're not sleeping well at night She also said adults need 7 to 9 hours of good sleep at night to stay healthy and avoid diseases like heart problems and diabetes. One issue with the study: it might have confused "quiet rest" with actual sleep, because the tracker only checks movement, not brain activity, as mentioned in the reports. Live Events Also, defining naps as between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. may have accidentally included some people's real sleep, not just naps. Too much daytime sleeping could be a sign of other health problems like chronic illness, body inflammation, or issues with the body's internal clock, as mentioned by Fox News Digital. ALSO READ : Michael Madsen, iconic 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Kill Bill' actor, dies at 67 Dr. Rohrscheib said if someone needs a nap every day, they probably have bad night sleep or an underlying health issue. Chenlu Gao said more studies are needed to find out whether naps directly cause health issues, or if they're just a sign of something else. But Gao also said watching people's napping patterns could help spot health problems early and let doctors step in faster. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says healthy naps should be under 20 to 30 minutes, and taken early in the afternoon, according to the reports. Short "power naps" can help you feel more awake and full of energy. But if you nap for more than 30 minutes, you might feel tired or dizzy after waking up. In short, sleeping too much during the day after age 60 can be risky. The time, length, and how often you nap may show signs about your health, according to Fox News Digital FAQs Q1. Is it dangerous for older adults to nap a lot during the day? Yes, a new study says too much daytime napping after age 60 may raise the risk of death. Q2. How long should a healthy nap be? Experts say naps should be 20–30 minutes and taken early in the afternoon.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Afternoon napping could have surprising impact on longevity, study suggests
A new study linking daytime napping to increased mortality rates in older adults may have some rethinking that midday snooze. The study, presented last month at SLEEP 2025, the 39th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle, Washington, found that frequent, longer and irregular daytime naps — especially in the early afternoon — were linked to a higher risk of death over an eight-year period. "Our study fills a gap in knowledge," lead author Chenlu Gao, a postdoctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Fox News Digital. Study Reveals Exercising Every Day May Not Be Necessary: 'Better Than None' The research shows "not just whether someone naps, but how long, how variable, and when they nap during the day may be meaningful indicators of future health risk," he said. The study included 86,565 participants averaging 63 years of age — all of whom worked regular daytime schedules — who were monitored by actigraphy, which detects movement during sleep but not brain activity. Read On The Fox News App Scientists defined daytime napping as sleeping between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. After the initial study, researchers kept tabs on the participants for eight years and discovered that 5,189 (6.0%) of them died during that time period. Most Americans Hit The Snooze Button Every Morning — Here's Why It Could Be Bad For Your Health The research showed that taking longer naps — and napping between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. or between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. — was associated with a higher mortality rate. Results were adjusted for other potential factors influencing mortality, like demographics, weight, smoking, alcohol consumption and nighttime sleep duration, the researchers stated. "Naps are not necessarily problematic unless they are used to compensate for chronically poor sleep at night," Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, a neuroscientist and sleep specialist at Wesper in New York, told Fox News Digital. "Getting seven to nine hours of good quality sleep is required to maintain health and reduce the risk of developing dangerous medical conditions like heart disease and diabetes," added Rohrscheib, who was not involved in the study. The study did not establish proof that naps directly affect the risk of death. "These are associations," Gao told Fox News Digital. "We cannot conclude from this study whether napping causes poor health." Most Sleep-deprived Cities In Us Revealed In Report: Where Does Yours Rank? In another potential limitation, because the study relied on detecting movement but not brain activity, "quiet wakefulness" may have been misclassified as sleep. Additionally, defining daytime napping as sleep between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. could have mistakenly included participants' actual sleep, affecting the accuracy of what would count as a nap, the researchers stated. Excessive napping could also be a marker of other health issues, such as chronic disease, systemic inflammation, or disruptions to circadian rhythms, which may themselves increase mortality risk. "Someone who requires daily naps to get through the day is likely not getting sufficient sleep during the night, or has an underlying health condition that causes daytime sleepiness," Rohrscheib noted. Gao added, "We need more research to understand the causal relationships before we can conclude that a certain type of napping pattern would benefit health." "However, we suggest that monitoring napping patterns might help us identify health conditions early, so that we can implement interventions accordingly." The American Academy of Sleep Medicine encourages healthy adults to limit naps to no longer than 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter While a brief "power nap" can improve daytime alertness and performance, naps of 30 minutes or longer may cause a person to feel groggy after waking up. This grogginess, or "sleep inertia," can delay the short-term benefits of a nap, experts say. For more Health articles, visit Overall, the findings suggest that when it comes to mid-day snoozing, moderation is key — and that napping patterns could be a window into broader health concerns worth discussing with a medical article source: Afternoon napping could have surprising impact on longevity, study suggests
Fox News
01-07-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Afternoon napping could have surprising impact on longevity, study suggests
A new study linking daytime napping to increased mortality rates in older adults may have some rethinking that midday snooze. The study, presented last month at SLEEP 2025, the 39th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle, Washington, found that frequent, longer and irregular daytime naps — especially in the early afternoon — were linked to a higher risk of death over an eight-year period. "Our study fills a gap in knowledge," lead author Chenlu Gao, a postdoctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Fox News Digital. The research shows "not just whether someone naps, but how long, how variable, and when they nap during the day may be meaningful indicators of future health risk," he said. The study included 86,565 participants averaging 63 years of age — all of whom worked regular daytime schedules — who were monitored by actigraphy, which detects movement during sleep but not brain activity. Scientists defined daytime napping as sleeping between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. After the initial study, researchers kept tabs on the participants for eight years and discovered that 5,189 (6.0%) of them died during that time period. The research showed that taking longer naps — and napping between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. or between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. — was associated with a higher mortality rate. Results were adjusted for other potential factors influencing mortality, like demographics, weight, smoking, alcohol consumption and nighttime sleep duration, the researchers stated. "Naps are not necessarily problematic unless they are used to compensate for chronically poor sleep at night," Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, a neuroscientist and sleep specialist at Wesper in New York, told Fox News Digital. "Getting seven to nine hours of good quality sleep is required to maintain health and reduce the risk of developing dangerous medical conditions like heart disease and diabetes," added Rohrscheib, who was not involved in the study. "Naps are not necessarily problematic unless they are used to compensate for chronically poor sleep at night." The study did not establish proof that naps directly affect the risk of death. "These are associations," Gao told Fox News Digital. "We cannot conclude from this study whether napping causes poor health." In another potential limitation, because the study relied on detecting movement but not brain activity, "quiet wakefulness" may have been misclassified as sleep. Additionally, defining daytime napping as sleep between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. could have mistakenly included participants' actual sleep, affecting the accuracy of what would count as a nap, the researchers stated. Excessive napping could also be a marker of other health issues, such as chronic disease, systemic inflammation, or disruptions to circadian rhythms, which may themselves increase mortality risk. "Someone who requires daily naps to get through the day is likely not getting sufficient sleep during the night, or has an underlying health condition that causes daytime sleepiness," Rohrscheib noted. Gao added, "We need more research to understand the causal relationships before we can conclude that a certain type of napping pattern would benefit health." "However, we suggest that monitoring napping patterns might help us identify health conditions early, so that we can implement interventions accordingly." The American Academy of Sleep Medicine encourages healthy adults to limit naps to no longer than 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon. While a brief "power nap" can improve daytime alertness and performance, naps of 30 minutes or longer may cause a person to feel groggy after waking up. This grogginess, or "sleep inertia," can delay the short-term benefits of a nap, experts say. For more Health articles, visit Overall, the findings suggest that when it comes to mid-day snoozing, moderation is key — and that napping patterns could be a window into broader health concerns worth discussing with a medical provider.
News.com.au
28-06-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Cheeky 12pm habit Aussies need to stop
A recent study has shown that napping during certain hours of the day could be associated with an increased risk of death. According to the research published in the journal Sleep, data from wearable activity trackers showed that nap duration and timing were related to increased all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults. Specifically, naps taken around the middle of the day were linked to a higher risk of death. This development brings scientists closer to understanding whether certain napping habits should raise concerns about a person's health. 'Our study fills a gap in knowledge by showing that not just whether someone naps, but how long, how variable, and when they nap during the day may be meaningful indicators of future health risk,' said lead study author Chenlu Gao, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Health. 'Past studies have relied on self-reported nap habits, which are subject to recall bias.' Study links naps with mortality According to Mrs Gao, numerous studies have explored the link between night-time sleep and mortality. However, she and her colleagues have 'long been interested in understanding daytime napping and its impact on health'. 'We saw a critical need to investigate whether objectively assessed napping behaviours are associated with longevity,' she explained. The team analysed data from 86,565 non-shift working adults, aged 43 to 79 (with an average of 63), who were part of the UK Biobank, a comprehensive biomedical database. Fifty-seven per cent of these participants were women. They wore a device that tracked their rest and activity levels for seven days, with napping defined as any sleep occurring between 9am and 7pm. During the 11-year follow-up period, 5819 of the study participants had died. Researchers identified a higher risk of death associated with three factors: longer naps, greater day-to-day variability in nap length, and more naps around noon and early afternoon. These associations remained true even after adjusting for factors such as body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, and overnight sleep duration. While the study established a correlation between different napping habits and mortality, it is crucial to note that it did not prove that napping causes an increased risk of death. It is also uncertain whether these findings apply to the general population. Why might napping be linked to mortality? Currently, as there is no definitive evidence that naps directly cause increased mortality, sleep experts are examining the research for clues — and some suggest that the underlying reasons for napping may be more relevant. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea or medical conditions that drain energy, like heart disease, could actually be the underlying cause of the nap-mortality connection. The study did attempt to account for lifestyle factors, but it remains difficult to control for undiagnosed medical conditions. Other experts propose that long, irregular midday naps could influence health by disrupting circadian rhythms, which are the body's internal sleep-wake cycles. This disruption could affect various factors that influence mortality, such as inflammation, metabolism, and cardiovascular health. Should we nap? If you feel the need to nap, experts recommend aiming for less than 30 minutes, as this allows you to feel refreshed and energised without experiencing grogginess. Napping earlier in the day can also help prevent your nap from interfering with your ability to sleep at night. If you find yourself napping more frequently or for longer periods, you should consult your doctor.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Harvard study warns: Common napping habits linked to higher death risk
Napping – once celebrated as the 'siesta' – has always been portrayed as a sweet afternoon indulgence – a momentary escape, a boost of productivity, or just a welcomed pause. Think of power naps as the snooze buttons that reset our mental sharpness during a demanding day. However, all that glitters ain't gold! Likewise, all that looks 'healthy' on the surface doesn't necessarily have only health benefits. A new large-scale study from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital challenges this rosy picture, suggesting that some nap patterns might be a silent alarm bell for health trouble. What's happening? A new Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital study is sounding a grim alarm. Tracking over 86,000 adults (average age 63) with wearable devices and following them for 11 years, the researchers found that certain napping patterns – specifically, longer, irregular, or midday-heavy sleeps – were significantly associated with higher all-cause mortality, even after controlling for BMI, alcohol, smoking, and nighttime sleep. Unlike past research based on self-reports, this study tapped objective tracking – via wearable devices worn for seven days – offering fresh insight into daylight dozing habits and long-term outcomes. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Ductless Air Conditioners Are Selling Like Crazy [See Why] Keep Cool Click Here Undo The reality of 'nappiness' Napping is deeply ingrained in cultures—Mediterranean siestas, polar day naps, even Silicon Valley's nap pods. And there are contexts where naps clearly boost alertness and productivity—think pilots on long-haul flights, or caregivers catching a moment's rest. However, your mid-day resting habits can also predict how soon you'll lie down to 'rest your eyes' — and not get back up. Previous research has focused on the link between nighttime sleep and mortality — but it has overlooked napping, which is a crucial part of the sleep-wake cycle and carries its own health implications, according to Chenlu Gao, PhD, the lead investigator of the study. Gao told Medscape Medical News, 'Our findings suggest that certain patterns of napping could serve as early indicators of declining health.' Napping for longer and on a more irregular schedule were both associated with a higher risk of mortality. Gao explained, 'Longer or more irregular naps may reflect poor nighttime sleep, circadian rhythm disruption, or underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, depression, or early neurodegenerative changes.' Key findings: the three nap red flags Long naps (>30 minutes) Folks who napped longer than 30 minutes regularly showed significantly higher mortality risk, tied to metabolic issues like obesity and hypertension. Similar patterns have emerged in prior studies – like a meta-analysis of over 300,000 participants – linking long naps to a 19–30 % higher risk of death and heart disease. Irregular naps Unpredictable napping schedules – when nap length varies wildly day to day – also correlated with increased mortality. This inconsistency could disrupt circadian rhythms and mask health issues, potentially worsening metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes. Midday-heavy napping (11 am – 3 pm) Surprisingly, those who most often dozed off between late morning and mid-afternoon bore a greater mortality risk, even after adjusting for lifestyle and health factors. Why does it smell of trouble? Gao explained that these 'dangerous' nap patterns might signal underlying sleep disruptions, like poor night sleep or circadian misalignment, or diseases such as cardiovascular or metabolic disorders. And this isn't conjecture. A 2022 Harvard Heart Letter involving 360,000 adults found frequent napping tied to a 12 % increased risk of hypertension and a 24% elevated stroke risk. Likewise, long, irregular naps have been tied to conditions such as high waist circumference, hypertension, insulin resistance, inflammation, and early signs of neurodegenerative decline. While naps shorter than 30–45 minutes seemed benign – or even beneficial – longer and erratic naps raised red flags. This aligns with the idea that consistency matters, a point supported by emerging research showing sleep regularity (beyond just duration) might strongly predict longevity. Correlation or causation? Critically, these are observational links, not proof of causality. Long or irregular naps likely flag health issues rather than cause them. Moreover, nighttime sleep quality, undiagnosed conditions (like sleep apnea or cardiovascular risk factors), and tracking limitations (e.g., misclassified inactivity as naps) all temper interpretations and could lie behind the trends. However, the sheer scale, objective monitoring, and consistency with past findings lend credibility: nap patterns may function as early biomarkers of declining health. The 'nappiness' strategy Experts aren't advising abandoning naps altogether. Instead, they're recommending: nap smart. Keep naps short: 15–30 minutes are ideal ('power naps') – long enough to refresh but short enough to avoid deep sleep inertia. Stay consistent: Same time each day maintains circadian rhythm. Nap early: Before around 3 p.m. helps avoid nighttime sleep interference. Check for underlying issues: Frequent or prolonged daytime dozing – especially with nighttime fatigue – warrants medical review for possible sleep disorders or chronic illness. In fact, a growing body of sleep research hints that napping patterns may serve as an early biomarker of health decline, beyond just rest. The key takeaway? Not all naps are created equal. The modern nap toolkit is evolving. So, yes to short, strategic breaks. Beware long, erratic snoozes. Think of it this way: ask not just whether you nap, but how you nap. Sleep may be the gateway to wellness or the SOS signal in disguise – and napping habits are part of that subtle story. So, when the afternoon slump feels deeper than usual, it might be time to check in with your health. 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