Feeling Guilty About Taking A Mid-Day Snooze? New Research Reveals That Daytime Napping May Slow Down Brain Aging And Preserve Brain Health
After hitting that mid-day slump, most people wish that they could lie back, relax, and take a nice nap.
But while this desire might make some people feel guilty or unproductive, a new study has found that habitual napping is casually linked with larger overall brain volume– a good brain health marker associated with a lower risk of dementia and other diseases.
The research was led by scientists at UCL and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, who analyzed data from people between the ages of 40 and 69.
“Our findings suggest that, for some people, short daytime naps may be a part of the puzzle that could help preserve the health of the brain as we get older,” said Dr. Victoria Garfield, a senior author of the study.
Past studies have revealed that napping offers cognitive benefits after individuals who took a short nap performed better in cognitive tests as opposed to individuals who did not.
However, this particular study aimed to go further– establishing whether or not there was a causal relationship between brain health and daytime napping.
The team used a technique known as Mendelian randomization to analyze 97 DNA pieces believed to determine the likelihood of habitual napping.
Afterward, the researchers compared the brain health and cognition of individuals who were more likely to nap with people who did not have the same genetic variants. This was accomplished using the data of 378,932 people collected from the UK Biobank study.
This work revealed that people who were more genetically programmed to nap had a larger total rain volume.
F8 \ Suport Ukraine – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
The researchers also estimated the average brain volume difference between habitual nappers and individuals who were not. The difference was equivalent to between 2.6 and 6.5 years of aging.
It is important to note, though, that the team did not observe a difference in the performance of habitual nappers on three other brain health and cognitive function measures– including visual processing, reaction time, and hippocampal volume.
“This is the first study to attempt to untangle the causal relationship between habitual daytime napping and cognitive and structural brain outcomes. By looking at genes set at birth, Mendelian randomization avoids confounding factors occurring throughout life that may influence associations between napping and health outcomes,” explained the study’s lead author, Valentina Paz.
“Our study points to a causal link between habitual napping and larger total brain volume.”
Dr. Garfield also hopes that the findings of this research will help reduce stigmas surrounding daytime napping and encourage people to reap the brain health benefits.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Sleep Health, visit the link here.
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