Excessive daytime naps may worsen diabetes risk

Longer daytime naps seem to exacerbate the risk of diabetes, while shorter durations protect against metabolism-related diseases, a recent study has found.

A total of 3,236 adults (mean age, 52.5±13.2 years; 62.5 percent female) participated in the study, who were grouped into four daytime nap durations: 0 h (n=1,272), ≤0.5 h (n=882), 0.5–1 h (n=778), and >1 h (n=304). More than half (55.1 percent) of them had dyslipidaemia, while 7.8 percent had diabetes. Fatty liver and central obesity had prevalence rates of 38.1 percent and 43.8 percent, respectively.

Logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders showed that different durations of daytime naps impacted the prevalence of metabolism-related diseases. Among participants who napped for ≤5 h, for instance, the odds of developing dyslipidaemia were 20-percent lower than the 0-h nap controls (odds ratio [OR], 0.8, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.67–0.96).

A similar protective effect of short (≤0.5 h) naps was seen for central obesity (OR, 0.77, 95 percent CI, 0.6–0.98). On the other hand, the risk of diabetes was nearly 60-percent greater among participants who napped for >1 h (OR, 1.59, 95 percent CI, 1.04–2.43). Napping showed no significant effect on fatty liver prevalence.

“Future studies with longitudinal design and health guidelines should be developed in this field since daytime napping is potentially a practical health behaviour in disease prevention and health promotion,” the researchers said.