Daytime Dozing May be Indicator of Future Stroke
According to the findings of a recent study, regular daytime dozing among the elderly could be a signal of an increased risk of a stroke. “Dozing” is defined by the study as - unintentional falling asleep. 
Researchers reported at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2008 that stroke risk was two to four times greater in those individuals who moderately doze.
In 2004, researchers began collecting daytime dozing data annually using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The Epworth scale asks people to rate their frequency of dozing off during specific situations, such as watching TV, sitting and talking to someone, sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol and stopping briefly in traffic while driving.
Based on the Epworth results, the researchers designated the 2,153 participants as “no dozing” (44 percent), “some dozing” (47 percent) and “significant dozing” (9 percent). In the two years of follow-up, researchers sought to determine the number of strokes and vascular events among the dozing study members. They detected 40 strokes and 127 vascular events.
The study found that the risk of a heart attack or vascular death was 1.6 percent higher for the moderate dozers and 2.6 percent for the significant dozers. The findings were similar for all ethnicities and both genders.
Research in the past has found that people who experience sleep apnea have an increased stroke risk. According to the researchers, this study indicates that people with sleep problems should be further evaluated by their physician.
Source: American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
These findings, announced on Thursday, February 21, 2008, by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association refer only to “unintentional” daytime naps or dozing occurring in the elderly. The article does not refer in any way to the naps we all enjoy taking in the afternoon, after lunch, after returning home from work, etc.
It is important to differentiate the regular daytime naps many of us take from “unintentional” naps or dozing. The key here is “unintentional” daytime naps, which quite possibly have a pathophysiologic cause.
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Naps Vs. dozing studies are producing quantities of confusion.
Archives of Internal Medicine published a study showing that afternoon naps reduce cardiovascular events by as much as 37 percent.
Now American Stroke Assn. comes out with dozing indicates higher stroke risk. get my point?
Naps are healthy, period. Yes there are optimal durations, etc. This article is absolutely misleading. Who would publish an article with such gross generalizations and wordplay?
This article is not talking about taking naps, it talks about dozing off whenever you’re sitting still. I know elderly people who fall asleep as soon as they are sitting in front of the tv or even the computer, even if they have just gotten out of bed in the morning.
Wow, this article is outrageous. Who comes up with this propaganda? Napping OR dozing is perfectly natural, especially with age. These types of articles are not to be trusted and are no doubt part of some hidden agenda to scare aging adults. Worthless, completely worthless.
As a side note, NOTICE all of the ads related to this article for “stroke screenings” and “prepare to be shocked”. That is all these articles are designed to do. Sell another related product or get people thinking more about the drugs they “need to live”.
There’s nothing like getting cozy behind the wheel and having a little nap on the freeway in the afternoon rusk!? Sounds more like narcolepsy than dozing off.
Great, don’t Drink, don’t Smoke, don’t drink Milk Now Dont Sleep?
This is the biggest bunch of BS I have sen in my life. Do us all a favor and instead of this ridiculous study give the money to a charity that is doing REAL work curing diseases.
Find a real job!
It’s likely that there’s more to the study than made it into this short article. Scientific studies are often hard to summarise as the press likes to do. Regardless, this would hardly be the first study that appears to contradict others that have gone before. There are probably factors unaccounted for that would help explain the differences. Hypothetically, let’s say that these folks nod off during the day because stress and worry are keeping them up at night. Which is more likely to be the cause of strokes, napping or stress? There simply isn’t enough substance here to make an informed evaluation. File this under “Interesting–possibly useful later,” and move on.
I’m getting tired reading this. I feel like a nap.
I think some people are confusing some research data with what’s going to happen to them,… just b/c some study found a “link” between A and B doesn’t mean that it will happen uniformly. I bet you that more studies will follow
I think this article is referring to frequent daytime napping be a possible symtom of vascular conditions that can result in stroke. Physiologically, I can see how this may be connected. It seems to me that sometimes dosing may be result of pure oxygenated blood levels in the brain. This may be the result of blockages, narrowing of those small blood vessels in the brain which provide brain tissue with the nutrients they need to be healthy and fully nutrified.
Correction I meant “lowered” levels of oxygenated blood to the brain cells. This may be from vascular contrictions of blood vessel walls in brain. This may be indicative of what leads to total blockage of blood vessels in brain.
I think this article is referring to frequent daytime napping be a possible symtom of vascular conditions that can result in stroke. Physiologically, I can see how this may be connected. It seems to me that sometimes dosing may be result of lowered(inadequate) oxygenated blood levels in the brain. This may be the result of blockages, narrowing of those small blood vessels in the brain which provide brain tissue with the nutrients they need to be healthy and fully nutrified.
if they tell you that some drug carries risk of some side effect does it mean everyione who takes it will get it - NO! same thing with these medical studies, theres only a higher chance
media likes to make a big story out of nothing
I agree with kiny and Victor -there is a big difference between choosing to nap and falling asleep involuntarily while engaged in activities such as driving and talking to someone.
Narcolepsy is falling into a deep sleep while dozing can be as short as seconds.
Elliot, you got it backwards - the article is not written to sell ads. The ads you see are automatically chosen by a program according to the content of the page viewed. While napping and dozing may be common for old folk, so are strokes.
To add to LREKings’ comment, when scientific articles are writen for the general audience, many things are left out and in trying to explain the study and its outcomes in simple terms, the true message is lost. If you really want to understand the study results, you must find it yourself and read the actual white paper to understand the context. There you will find an explanation and interpretation for the results. I am sure that the study was done for some very specific case/observation and most of the comments here are missing this point.
Frequent dosing episodes maybe a manifestation of the brain not getting enough oxygen. Similarily, you wil find people dosing off all the time during an airplane travel. The oxygen saturation in the cabinet of the airplane 10,000 feet up is less than ground. It is this lack of oxygen that is causing people to “dose” off. Therefore, frequent dosing episodes in an elderly may indicate there is an underlying cardiovascular disease that may lead to a stroke or heart attack. The way this information is presented in the articles is misleading. I hope this comment will help your understanding.
A few percentage points is likely not significant in a study which presents NO data, nor limits (e.g. 95% confidence) and worse of all does not give peer review journal reference. Even if the study were valid, a one or two percent increase in stroke risk seems nothing worth talking about with the myriad of other ailments confronting an aging person.
One key parameter to this brief conclusion on study is how many people were studied… And whether their relatives had previous issues, etc… Too many unkowns in study to make this credible conclusion to everyone.
Also, define “significant dozing” - 2 hour nap, 4 hour nap, 12 hour nap??? Big difference when judging effect of nap.
My mother, who was 76 at the time, suffered her first-ever car crash while making a 1-hour drive home from a luncheon with her friends in a distant town. There had been no drinking at the luncheon and my mother is a very fit, very energetic person. She fell asleep momentarily at the wheel while alone on the road, going down a straight stretch. This was a cliffside river road; the only thing between her and the river was a large boulder, which luckily she hit. The car was totaled, but she was fine, because she didn’t see it coming and therefore didn’t tense up before the impact.
Her response was to change her schedule and make sure she’s at home in the afternoons. Now she has a planned snooze after lunch and doesn’t tempt the fates by being on the road while digesting. She’s still a busy, vital gal, but I guess there comes a point when the body can’t do everything at top functionality simultaneously, like it does when we are younger.
And, yes, I agree, there’s a difference between a Nap (intentional) and a sudden, unplanned snooze. Napping is great. Falling asleep when not intending to is very, very dangerous!
This is another example of inexcusable pre-release of an article without review. The amount of erroneous information is outrageous. The only thing that can be derived from reading this is confusion, and more false assumptions.
I’m getting sleepy…………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Research like this pops up all the time. The thing they don’t say is that whether the napping is the cause or merely the symptom. Secondly if you tend to nap alot it is a fair bet that you’re not a very physically active being which in itself probably means you’re over your target weight….
I wouldn’t pay much attention to it, I mean look at the percentages.
I think the flaw with this study lies more with the reasons, than the effects. I think most elderly people who frequently nap during the day are already on either high blood pressure medication, diabetic medication, or both. I think they are napping due to these medications, which they are taking due to high blood pressure and other conditions which precipitate strokes. Now if they were to do this study only with elderly people that were not on high blood pressure or diabetic medication, and were taking very few medications, none of which affected energy levels, and came to the same conclusions, it would be much more meaningful. However, almost every person over 65 that I know is on some form of high blood pressure medication.
Hey, what is the margin of sampling error?
1.6%, 2.6% differences don’t seem to make whole lot of difference.
Get real - the increased risk is in the range of 1-2%. Big fracking deal - they want to get people all worked up over a 1% increase in risk? Talk about a tempest in a teapot. Look, we’re all terminal, no one gets out alive. I’m certainly not going to worry about anything involving a tiny, fractional increase in risk. Eat well, exercise, take your vitamins, drink some red wine, eat some dark chocolate, and don’t worry. Sure, you’ll eventually die of something, but don’t let the worry-warts prevent you from enjoying life in the meantime.
What a crock… Now excuse me, I’m feeling a little drowsy…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
thanks terminus i can tick all your boxes bar the chocolate ,since retireing i do fall asleep for 10 mins after lunch and i feel better for it cheers from uk
IT SEEMS THAT IN THIS DAY INAGE EVREYTHING SEEMS TO MAKE YOU SICK. IF ITS NOT WHAT YOU EAT , ITS WHAT YOU DRINK . EVERYBODY NEEDS TO STOP LOOKING FOR THIHGS THAT MAKE YOU SICK AND JUST LET PEOPLE LIVE THIER LIVES. IN THE OLDEN TIMES THERE WAS NOBODY AROUND TO FIND STUFF. AND THEY LIVED MANY YEARS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. WHY DOSEN’T ANYBODY JUST LEAVE THINGS ALONE . BESIDES WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE SOMEDAY. WHY NOT JUST LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST?
Julie said, “IN THE OLDEN TIMES THERE WAS NOBODY AROUND TO FIND STUFF. AND THEY LIVED MANY YEARS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. ”
No they didn’t Julie. Life spans were 20 years shorter “in the olden days” than they are now. And in undeveloped counties today 60 years old is really old for most of the population.
Should there be a study to study the idiots that do studies. USA has top notch trauma care (or can when everyone is on top of their game) Yet when it comes to preventative medicine we suck. How many “Pink” campaigns has there been for cancer? Enormous billions have been spent and yet I have the horrible feeling they’re doing the same experiments over and over with the same results. Studies find……I believe non of it anymore. Even the smoking. Sure smoking is no good, but in moderation it is of no consequence. Put away two packs a day with happy meals, sixpacks, a sedentary lifestyle and you are corpulent toast. Bunch of quacks. I smoke, drink, chase girls and still get some good wood, and Im seventy-six. I do not eat fast food, do anything to excess and I’m fine. You can even ask my 35 yo girlfriend
I found these comments interesting . I am 72 yrs old and I have been experience these short naps. today I went to sleep in church, but woke up in about 5 minutes..
In light of the fact that daytime drowsiness and napping among the younger population (non-elderly) is a well-accepted symptom of sleep disorders resulting in chronic fatigue, with potentionally serious health risks–including hearth attacks–it seems strange to conclude that napping amongst the elderly is not also merely a symptom poor sleep quality that often comes with age, with resulting health risks.
Stupid. People need to stop publishing these bogus “studies.” By the way, did you know that the fear of cancer may cause malignant tumors? Or that reality tv may cause stupidity and ADD?
Tell those darn cats about the naps so they don’t stroke-out on our laps.
Sleep apnea that aggravates narcolepsy is probably an indicator because of how it reduces oxygen to the brain, and when the tissues relax, collapsing the viscera on blood vessel constricting them.. yada… yada.
Sleep apnea has a correlation with obesity.. so guess what?!!
Abagad-Diablo@excite.com