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Older adults should not be afraid to take naps
Older nappers: Are they lazy, maybe even senile? Or smart, health-conscious managers of their own energy cycles?
If the former image prevails, seniors who like to nap may worry they will appear less robust. But if the latter gains favor, people who find their sleep patterns changing as they age can compensate by taking naps, if they do not already do so.
Better yet, taking a nap does not make it harder to sleep at night, says Scott Campbell, director of the Laboratory of Human Chronobiology at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. Instead, it simply adds to someone’s total rest in a 24-hour period, producing sharper mental performance not just after the nap but on the following day.
Many people do not understand this. “The first thing most people are told if they can’t sleep through the night is, ‘Don’t take naps,’” stated Campbell. “Our research clearly shows that is just hogwash.”
Combating a bias with facts
In a study of 16 men and 16 women aged 55-85, Campbell says the only “negative” effect of napping was that it took a few minutes longer to fall asleep at night. Even so, “the average of 22 minutes from lights out to sleep onset is well within the normal range for these older individuals,” he writes in the January issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Thus, there is much to be gained from napping for people who find it harder to get a solid night’s sleep as they get older, either because they sleep more shallowly or because their sleep is broken up.
But the bias against napping is strong. “We view napping behavior as a reflection of laziness or senility or indolence when we should view it as part of the natural sleep process,” Campbell explained. “To nap during the day is just as biologically based as sleeping at night.”
In fact, napping is a lifelong phenomenon that reemerges in old age because when people retire, they have the opportunity to nap. Thus, while certain changes in sleep patterns are age-related, the inclination to nap is not, and naps should not be subtracted in an attempt to “overcome” what Campbell calls the “aging of sleep.”
Rather, the changes can be taken in stride. People who start waking up for an hour or two in the middle of the night, for example, can read or go online if they do not view the wakefulness as problematic.
“Some people view this as trouble,” Campbell said. “They wake up at four o’clock in the morning … and there’s nothing to do, so they feel distressed.” But with a different approach, the interlude can be useful, not a source of anxiety. “It’s definitely the way one perceives the problem.”
In fact, the “classic” person suffering from dementia who cannot sleep at night may not be having any more trouble sleeping than someone else her age. But instead of doing crossword puzzles, he or she “acts out.”
The convergence of dementia and normal changes in sleep is the culprit because “it opens the window for bad behavior to happen,” Campbell said. “You can’t behave badly and sleep at the same time.”
Campbell has written an article, co-authored by Patricia Murphy and Thomas Stauble, entitled, “Effect of a Nap on Nighttime Sleep and Waking Function in Older Subjects.” For more information, visit the following websites www.med.cornell.edu or www.americangeriatrics.org.
Reprinted with permission of Older Americans Report. Published by Business Publishers, Inc. 8737 Colesville Rd., 10th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910. (800) 274-6737. Website: http://www.bpinews.com; Email: custserv@bpinews.com.