About half of middle-aged and older Americans nap regularly during the day. For most people, that is not a cause for alarm. But a study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that when napping patterns shift in older adults, particularly when naps become more frequent, longer or move earlier into the morning, that change may reflect something more serious than ordinary fatigue.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham and Rush University Medical Center followed 1,338 participants for up to 19 years, tracking their napping habits over time. What they found was that the people whose napping increased significantly faced a considerably higher risk of mortality than those whose patterns remained stable.
What the numbers show
Each additional hour of daytime napping per day was associated with a 13% increase in mortality risk. Each additional nap per day corresponded to a 7% higher risk. The timing of naps also mattered in ways that surprised the researchers. People who napped primarily in the morning hours faced a 30% higher mortality risk compared to those who napped in the early afternoon, a finding that points to disrupted circadian rhythms as a potential underlying factor.
The study’s lead author emphasized that the concern is not about napping itself but about meaningful changes in how often and how long someone naps over time. A person who has always taken a brief afternoon rest is not the target of this research. The signal the study is tracking is a shift away from an established pattern, particularly one that moves toward longer, more frequent or earlier naps.
Why morning napping stands out
The circadian system naturally produces a mild dip in alertness in the early afternoon, which is why a short post-lunch nap tends to feel restorative and does not significantly interfere with nighttime sleep. Morning sleepiness is a different phenomenon. Feeling the need to nap in the morning, particularly after a full night of sleep, suggests the body’s sleep-wake regulation may be breaking down in ways that go beyond normal aging.
Conditions associated with that kind of dysregulation include sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders. A general practitioner evaluating a patient with new or increasing morning sleepiness would typically consider those diagnoses before attributing the change to aging alone.
The argument for tracking naps as a health indicator
Most routine health assessments for older adults focus on nighttime sleep quality, asking about insomnia, sleep duration and waking patterns. Daytime napping has received less clinical attention despite the fact that, as this study suggests, it may carry its own diagnostic value.
The researchers argue that napping behavior is relatively easy to monitor, either through self-reporting or wearable devices, and that changes over time could function as an early signal worth investigating. A clinician who notices that a patient’s napping has increased substantially over a year or two has a concrete data point that could prompt further evaluation before symptoms of an underlying condition become more apparent.
That framing reposistions napping not as a passive habit but as a behavior worth treating with the same interest as changes in appetite, weight or energy level.
What older adults and caregivers can watch for
The study does not suggest that napping should be avoided or that an older adult who naps is necessarily unwell. It suggests that the trajectory of napping behavior over time is worth paying attention to. Napping significantly more than usual, feeling drowsy throughout the day despite adequate nighttime sleep, or experiencing morning sleepiness regularly are all patterns that warrant a conversation with a healthcare provider.
Short afternoon naps of 20 to 30 minutes, timed to align with the body’s natural afternoon alertness dip, remain consistent with healthy sleep behavior. The concern is the shift, not the habit itself.
