Regular napping could be a warning sign of Alzheimer's Disease
dailyrecord.co.ukNeeding to take naps often during the day could be a worrying warning sign of dementia, according to a new study. Researchers identified a 'vicious circle' linking excessive daytime napping among elderly people with Alzheimer's disease.
Previously, sleeping patterns of older people were not well understood which left the link between napped and the disease unknown - reports HullLive.The new study analysed data from 1,401 people aged 81-years-old on average with around three quarters of participants women.Those involved in the study were followed up on for up to 14 years.Participants were given a watch-like device which they wore on their non-dominant wrist for two weeks every year.Each year they undertook a range of tests to assess their cognitive skills.The team identified sleep episodes using a sleep-scoring algorithm that considers wrist activity counts.It calculated the length of each nap and the frequency of snoozes.Any long period of non-activity between 9am and 7pm was counted as a nap.
When the study began, 75.7 per cent of participants had no cognitive impairment, while 19.5 per cent of them had mild cognitive impairment and 4.1 per cent had Alzheimer’s disease.For participants who did not develop cognitive impairment, daily daytime napping increased by an average 11 minutes per year.The rate of increase doubled after a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment to 24 minutes and nearly tripled to 68 minutes after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.When the team looked at the 24 per cent of participants who had normal cognition at the start of the study but developed Alzheimer’s six years later and compared them with those whose cognition remained stable, they found differences in napping habits.Participants who
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