Long daily naps tied to higher fatty liver risk in diabetes study
A study presented at ENDO 2026 links naps longer than 30 minutes with increased MASLD risk among adults with type 2 diabetes.
By Tom Brennan · Health & Medicine Correspondent
3 min read
Adults with type 2 diabetes who nap for more than 30 minutes a day may face a higher risk of developing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, according to research presented Monday at ENDO 2026 in Chicago. The finding matters because MASLD is a chronic liver condition linked to metabolic disease, and sleep habits could give doctors another low-cost way to spot higher-risk patients.
The Endocrine Society said the study found the association even after accounting for nighttime sleep patterns. Xuejiang Gu, executive director of the Endocrinology Department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in China, said the work suggests long naps independently raise the likelihood of MASLD in people with type 2 diabetes.
MASLD, previously called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, occurs when excess fat accumulates in the liver. The Endocrine Society said obesity and type 2 diabetes are among the conditions that can contribute to the disorder.
Researchers examined whether sleep behavior might help predict MASLD risk better than standard medical tests, according to the Endocrine Society. If sleep patterns prove useful, clinicians could ask brief questions about sleep and napping to help identify patients who may need closer attention.
Gu and colleagues gathered sleep information through questionnaires from 1,900 adults with type 2 diabetes from 2017 to 2024. Participants were ages 18 to 85.
The researchers sorted participants into four groups: good nighttime sleep with a short nap, good nighttime sleep with a long nap, poor nighttime sleep with a short nap, and poor nighttime sleep with a long nap. The team then used multivariate Cox regression analysis to study the relationship between those sleep patterns and later MASLD diagnoses.
Over an average follow-up period of a little more than three years, the study recorded 379 new cases of MASLD. Compared with participants who had good nighttime sleep and short naps, people in each of the other three sleep categories had a higher risk of developing the liver condition, according to the Endocrine Society.
The risk appeared highest among participants who combined poor nighttime sleep with longer naps. Gu said that pattern was linked to more than triple the MASLD risk in this group of patients with type 2 diabetes.
The Endocrine Society described sleep habits as daily behaviors that people can change, giving patients with type 2 diabetes a practical target for prevention efforts. Gu said the public health message for these patients is to nap wisely.
The findings were reported as meeting research, and the Endocrine Society did not describe them as proof that naps cause MASLD. The study points to an association between nap length, nighttime sleep quality and liver disease risk in a population already vulnerable to metabolic complications.
This story draws on original reporting from Medical Xpress.