New study: napping may improve memory and cognition if you’re over 60

According to one study, if you’re 60 or older, taking a quick afternoon nap could actually have many benefits in terms of overall mental agility. A new survey by General psychiatry suggests that an afternoon nap might “be associated with better knowledge of location, better verbal fluency and working memory” compared to those over 60 who do not often attend a brief snooze.

While the news is great for our parents, it does less for us generation X-er workaholics who just want to go to bed after a particularly busy lunch. Indeed, we would give anything to have a chance to justify the lunch nap, aafter a hearty lunch and a night without having enough to sleep, a brief period of catching up on those elusive ZZZs is often the balm many people need to recharge their batteries for the rest of the day. But did you know that napping can be a healthy practice to practice, especially as you get older?

The observational study examined the sleep patterns of 2,214 healthy people over the age of 60 living in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. Of those participants, 1,534 took regular naps, while 680 did not, and everyone took part in health and cognition questionnaire assessments, including dementia testing. Participants slept an average of 6.5 hours per night and their naps were defined as ranging from 5 minutes to 2 consecutive hours. to sleep time.

The study found that those who napped performed much better on cognitive tests. The researchers hypothesized that one of the reasons nappers work better than non-nappers is that sleep plays a major role in controlling the body’s immune response, so taking a nap could potentially help fight midday inflammation. Additionally, it suggests that those who still want to take an afternoon nap may already have higher levels of inflammation.

But these results are not necessarily conclusive. Before planning a 30-minute nap at each lunch break, it’s important to note that studying has some limitations. On the one hand, participants seemed to not get enough sleep at night, averaging just 6.5 hours to sleep. Sutapa Mukherjee, Sleep and Respiratory Physician and President-Elect of the Australasian Sleep Association, said: “Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to feel rested,” adding, “In my mind , it makes sense to take an afternoon nap better on some of their cognitive tests, because it is a population of people with limited sleep ”, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Sharon Naismith, a neuropsychologist at the University of Sydney, suggested that the reliance on questionnaires over the use of sleep monitors may also be limiting.

Naismith concludes, “But that said, it’s a very interesting topic, so it’s good to have a little more research somehow on large groups of people napping.” While the study doesn’t definitively suggest that everyone over 60 should take a nap, it may imply that it could be helpful in combating cognitive decline as you get older, particularly if you find that you don’t get enough sleep at night.