New study seeks to determine if there’s a causal link between daytime napping and brain health
Posted Date – 06:40 AM, Wed – 21 June 23
London: Naps during the day can help preserve brain function by slowing the rate at which the brain shrinks with age, according to new research by academics at University College London and the University of the Republic of Uruguay.
The study, published in the journal Sleep Health, analyzed data from people aged 40 to 69 and found a causal link between habitual napping and greater total brain volume — a marker of good brain health linked to dementia and Associated with a lower risk of other diseases.
Senior author Dr Victoria Garfield (UCL Lifelong Health and Aging MRC Unit) said: “Our findings suggest that, for some people, short daytime naps may be part of the puzzle, helping us keep our brains Healthy. Older.” Previous research has shown that napping has cognitive benefits, with people who napped performing better on cognitive tests hours later than those who didn’t.
The new study aimed to determine whether there was a causal relationship between daytime napping and brain health.
Using a technique called Mendelian randomization, they looked at 97 DNA segments that they believe can determine how likely people are to habitually nap. Using data from 378,932 people in the UK Biobank study, they compared measures of brain health and cognition in those genetically more predisposed to napping with those without these genetic variants and found that, overall, people predetermine Take a nap to have a bigger brain capacity.
The team estimated that the average difference in brain volume between those programmed to habitually nap and those who did not was equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years.
But the researchers did not find any difference in performance on three other measures of brain health and cognitive function — hippocampal volume, reaction time and visual processing — among those programmed to habitually nap.
Lead author and PhD candidate Valentina Paz (University of the Republic (Uruguay) and UCL Lifetime Health and Aging MRC Unit) said: “This is the first study to try to disentangle the causal relationship between daytime habitual napping and brain cognition and structure. Findings. By looking at genes programmed at birth, Mendelian randomization avoids lifetime confounding that might affect the association between napping and health outcomes. Our study points to a link between habitual napping and greater total brain volume There is a causal relationship between them.” Dr Garfield added: “I hope studies like this one showing the health benefits of napping can help reduce any stigma that still exists for daytime napping.” identified in the study, which looked at data from 452,633 UK Biobank participants. The study, led by Dr Hassan Dashti (Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital) and co-author of the new study, identified variability based on self-reported napping and an objective measure of exercise recording support. Wrist-worn accelerometer.
In the new study, researchers analyzed the health and cognitive outcomes of people with these genetic variants, as well as several different subsets of these variants, adjusting for potential biases such as those associated with excessive daytime sleepiness variation.
Genetic data and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brains of 35,080 people drawn from the larger UK Biobank sample were available.
In terms of study limitations, the authors note that all participants were of white European ancestry, so the findings may not immediately generalize to other races.
While researchers don’t have information on nap duration, early research suggests naps of 30 minutes or less provide the best short-term cognitive benefits, and naps earlier in the day are less likely to disrupt nighttime sleep.
Previous research in the UK and the Netherlands has found that nearly a third of adults aged 65 or over take a regular afternoon nap.
