Why Hour-Long Naps Might Not Be the Greatest Idea

Original published by Van Winkle's, a new website dedicated to smarter sleep & wakefulness, published by Casper.

Those who are lucky enough to find the time for a quick, 20-30 minute nap are sure to reap the benefits: better mood, more productive and more alert. But anything that greatly exceeds that time frame leads to waking up with additional fatigue.  

Now a new study, recently presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) further emphasizes the problems associated with longer naps. Researchers from the University of Tokyo browsed studies from Sweden, Spain, Finland, Germany, China and the United States and found that those who generally take daytime naps for longer than 60 minutes had a 46 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Those who took shorter naps — less than 60 minutes — were not at any greater risk of diabetes at all.

“Several studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of taking short naps less than 30 minutes in duration, which help to increase alertness and motor skills,” said study researcher Dr. Tomohide Yamada in a press release.

So what's the problem with longer naps? Yamada suggests longer daytime napping is a sign of larger nighttime problems such as obstructive sleep apnea, which can be linked to blocked arteries, strokes and death. Additionally, regularly sleeping more than nine hours at night is often associated with diabetes.

Keep your naps short to stave off disease. Or if you're going to nap longer: See all the cycles through. Go big or go home, folks.