It seems to me that perhaps the data better supports that dementia is correlated with unintentional and short naps. This makes it sound like they think it is causal, which I doubt.
Yes, ironically they even admit possible reverse causal effect along with many other causal variables. Frankly, this is not exactly stellar research in my view, at least with the rather reckless insinuations not supported.
This was how I read it as well. Having a neurological issue that causes you to fall asleep in the middle of the day would logically be a good thing to check for correlation with dementia risk. Separate from not needing to nap, but choosing to.
> Among nappers, we further defined napping intention based
on the question “In general, were these naps planned, or did
you fall asleep without meaning to?” Nappers who answered
“naps planned” were classified as intentional nappers, and
those who answered “fell asleep without meaning to” or “both
(some planned/some not)” were classified as unintentional nappers.
> I wonder if this study is missing some quite big issues here.
Definitely seems like a possible "correlation is not causation".
I would find it hard to believe that sleep is somehow biologically harmful.
So, like your example, excessive or unintentionally napping is instead a sign of an underlying issue or poor health. Possibly the body trying to sleep to repair some damage?
My sleep doctor was skeptical that I had sleep apnea during my initial consult because I indicated I don’t doze off unintentionally, even though I told her I consume 1000mg of caffeine a day to manage the sleepiness. I did tell her I took intentional naps on the weekends.
My sleep study revealed an average of 39 apnea events an hour and now I have a CPAP and am sleeping much better!
drive-by comment: unintentional napping seems likely to occur more in those failing to get actual restful sleep on the regular. Don't we already know chronic sleep deprivation correlates with dementia/alzheimers risk?
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 34.2 ms ] threadIntentional napping was not.
One could easily reverse cause and effect here.
"I'm going to go take a nap in bed."
vs
"I fell asleep in a chair."
In medicine, sometimes semantics are more important than you think.
> Among nappers, we further defined napping intention based on the question “In general, were these naps planned, or did you fall asleep without meaning to?” Nappers who answered “naps planned” were classified as intentional nappers, and those who answered “fell asleep without meaning to” or “both (some planned/some not)” were classified as unintentional nappers.
I used to 'unintentionally nap' all the time since I was a teen.
Then I discovered I had sleep apnea. No more napping. And dementia has been linked to sleep apnea.
I wonder if this study is missing some quite big issues here.
Definitely seems like a possible "correlation is not causation".
I would find it hard to believe that sleep is somehow biologically harmful.
So, like your example, excessive or unintentionally napping is instead a sign of an underlying issue or poor health. Possibly the body trying to sleep to repair some damage?
My sleep study revealed an average of 39 apnea events an hour and now I have a CPAP and am sleeping much better!
drive-by comment: unintentional napping seems likely to occur more in those failing to get actual restful sleep on the regular. Don't we already know chronic sleep deprivation correlates with dementia/alzheimers risk?
Napping for me means intentionally having a short sleep. I don’t know what unintentional napping is.