What Science Says About Naps and Early Death - AI Podcast

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Long daytime naps and inconsistent nap durations were linked to significantly higher risks of early death, regardless of nighttime sleep quality or baseline health status
People who regularly napped in the early afternoon or whose naps varied widely in length from day to day faced the greatest health risks, including cardiovascular and metabolic complications
Research shows that naps longer than 30 minutes are associated with increased risks of death, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, while short naps under 30 minutes offer cognitive benefits
Among older women, daily napping raised the risk of all-cause mortality by 44%, and sleeping 10 or more hours per day raised death risk by 58%, even when other factors like illness and depression were accounted for
Consistent short naps are far less risky than irregular or long naps; if your daytime sleep varies a lot or exceeds 30 minutes, it could be a warning sign of underlying inflammation, energy imbalance or circadian rhythm disruption

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen
0:06.1	summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required. Subscribe
0:11.2	for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights. What if your afternoon nap, the one you rely on
0:17.8	for a quick recharge, is quietly signaling an increased risk of chronic illness,
0:22.6	or even early death.
0:24.6	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:26.6	I'm Ethan Foster, here to explore why certain nap habits can undermine your long-term health.
0:32.6	I'm Alara Sky, and today we're focusing on new findings that connect nap length, timing, and consistency
0:39.6	to mortality risk in middle and older-aged adults. The data challenged the popular idea that
0:45.6	any nap is a healthy nap, revealing stark differences between short, regular rests, and long,
0:51.6	irregular ones. A large study of more than 86,000 adults tracked by motion-detecting devices showed that
0:58.5	people who napped longer than 30 minutes or varied their nap duration dramatically from day
1:03.8	to day, faced a significantly higher risk of death from any cause, independent of how
1:08.7	well they slept at night.
1:10.8	Timing matters too. The analysis found that just 10% of naps occurred between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
1:17.3	Yet 41% happened from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Those recurring mid-data afternoon naps were linked to the
1:23.7	greatest mortality risk, suggesting your circadian rhythm struggles when your daytime sleep lands late.
1:29.3	Another key point, variability trumps sheer duration.
1:33.3	Someone who naps a steady 25 minutes daily is at lower risk than someone whose naps swing wildly between 10 and 90 minutes.
1:41.3	Even if both average the same weekly nap total, that instability hints at
1:45.6	underlying metabolic or inflammatory stress. Importantly, researchers controlled for nighttime sleep.
1:52.7	Even when nighttime quality was adequate, long or inconsistent naps still predicted higher
	...

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