Who doesn't love some siesta time? But in today's unsettling news, a research published in the recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that there's a correlation between daytime napping and an increased risk of dying. Oh no!

The study, led by University of Cambridge epidemiologist Yue Leng, looked at the association between daytime napping and mortality in a survey of over 16,000 British men and women.

They found that daytime nappers are nearly a third more likely to die before they turn 65. This is even after they accounted for things like sex, social class, whether they smoked and more. From the study:
Among the 16,374 men and women who answered questions on napping habits between 1998 and 2000, a total of 3,251 died during the 13-year follow-up. Daytime napping was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (for napping less than 1 hour per day on average, hazard ratio = 1.14, 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 1.27; for napping 1 hour or longer per day on average, hazard ratio = 1.32, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 1.68), independent of age, sex, social class, educational level, marital status, employment status, body mass index, physical activity level, smoking status, alcohol intake, depression, self-reported general health, use of hypnotic drugs or other medications, time spent in bed at night, and presence of preexisting health conditions. This association was more pronounced for death from respiratory diseases (for napping less than 1 hour, hazard ratio = 1.40, 95% confidence interval: 0.95, 2.05; for napping 1 hour or more, hazard ratio = 2.56, 95% confidence interval: 1.34, 4.86) and in individuals 65 years of age or younger. Excessive daytime napping might be a useful marker of underlying health risk, particularly of respiratory problems, especially among those 65 years of age or younger.
If you find yourself consistently dozing off in the daytime, there's reason to believe it could be linked to an underlying health issue. The full results of the present study can be found at the American Journal of Epidemiology.