Daytime naps are considered one of the luxuries of getting older. But falling asleep unintentionally during the day may be worrisome. A study of nearly one thousand older adults by Johns Hopkins researchers found those who frequently fell asleep without meaning to rather than a planned nap had nearly forty percent greater risk of dementia during a ten-year follow up. Although previous studies between napping and cognitive decline have had mixed results, this observational study suggests napping behaviors could serve as an early marker to help guide intervention against dementia. Authors of the article in The Journal of Gerontology—Medical Sciences caution their findings relied on self-reporting and do not prove napping causes dementia.