14 DAY TRIAL // Those who enjoy the occasional afternoon nap might want to skip this piece of news, provided that they wish to keep indulging in this pleasant habit in the years to come.
Not to beat about the bush, a recent paper authored by scientists with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom says that, according to evidence at hand, daytime naps are linked to a higher risk of death.
Thus, these specialists have found that the folks between the ages of 40 and 79 who liked to nap for less than an hour on a daily basis and who were monitored as part of this investigation had a 14% higher risk of dying over the 13 years following the study.
In the case of people between the ages of 40 and 79 who napped daily for more than an hour, the risk of dying within said time frame was found to be 32% higher, Live Science informs.
The same source tells us that, according to the University of Cambridge researchers behind this investigation, respiratory diseases are the ones that most often kill people between the ages of 40 and 79, who like to nap each day.
Interestingly enough, it appears that, in the case of the over 16,000 nappers monitored by specialists as part of this research project, those who were between 40 to 65 years old were twice as likely to pass away during the study period than those who did not nap at all.
The researchers theorize that, all things considered, it is not napping in itself that kills people. On the contrary, odds are that the folks who sleep for a short while in the afternoon on a daily basis suffer from various medical conditions that have not been properly diagnosed.
“Excessive daytime napping might be a useful marker of underlying health risks, particularly respiratory problems, especially among those 65 years of age or younger,” the researchers reportedly wrote in their paper.