Naps are great. In fact, last Sunday I was watching a movie and dozed off for about three hours. My evening was gone before I knew it. But, was it a good choice? There’s no doubt that taking a nap feels good; however, like everything in life, moderation is key.

Sleep, diet and exercise make up what I like to call the triangle of health. Keeping a balance between all three is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. An imbalance in one creates a slow decay of health, and although napping is great and can help you moderate your energy levels, it is not so good for people who are overweight and have a sedentary lifestyle.

Research presented at 2015 annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes showed that taking long naps is associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. The research, led by Dr Tomohide Yamada from the University of Tokyo, Japan, consisted on a meta-analysis of different published scientific works. Their search included 261,365 Asian and Western subjects. Excessive daytime sleepiness was defined as having problems with sleepiness during the daytime. Daytime napping was defined as taking daytime naps.

What the researchers found is that excessive daytime sleepiness increases the risk of diabetes by 56%, while a longer daytime nap of 60 minutes or more increases the chance by 46%. In contrast, shorter naps (less than 60 minutes) had no effect on the risk of diabetes.

Excessive daytime sleepiness might be the consequence of sleep disturbance during the night, like sleep apnea.

Short naps, less than 30 minutes, are good. They help you increase your motor awareness and alertness. So, like I mentioned in the beginning of this article, moderation is key