Could daytime napping or poor sleep habits at night lead to an increased risk of developing elevated blood sugar? Believe it or not, the answer is yes.

A study¹ published earlier this month in the journal Diabetes Care found that individuals who napped less than an hour a day increased their risk of developing elevated blood sugar by 23% and those who napped for more than one hour a day increased their risk by a whopping 55% compared to people who did not take daytime naps. When researchers looked at night sleeping, they found that people who slept on average less than five hours a night increased their risk of developing elevated blood sugar by 46%. The authors concluded that day napping and short night sleeping are associated with increased risk of elevated blood sugar.

Another study² presented earlier this year at the Diabetes United Kingdom Annual Professional Conference in Glasgow further supports that napping can adversely affect blood sugar levels. Researchers from the University of Birmingham studied the sleeping habits of over 16,000 people and found that individuals who napped, even only once a week, had an increased risk of developing elevated blood sugar by 26%.

How could such a simple pleasure be so harmful to your health? Researchers have noted that waking up from a nap activates hormones with certain mechanisms in the body that prevent insulin from working effectively. Additionally, people who take naps tend to get less exercise than those who do not nap. It is well known that regular exercise has been medically proven to help inhibit elevated blood sugar. Also, naps can disrupt night time sleep which can lead to impaired glucose tolerance.

I have to be honest, I love to take a nap on a Saturday afternoon, but I’m going to seriously rethink this. Like so many other people in this country, I frequently do not get enough sleep. Aside from elevated blood sugar, inadequate sleep can lead to impaired immunity, poor concentration and an increased risk of accidents from decreased alertness. Ideally, you should get at least seven or eight hours of sleep per night. For me, this typically happens only once a week.

If insomnia is derailing your sleep, a prescription sleeping pill may not be the best cure. Here are some options to explore:

Practice good “sleep hygiene.” This does not mean making sure your bedding is clean! It means following good sleep habits, especially ensuring the bedroom environment is conducive to sleep. Among experts’ recommendations: Use the bedroom only for sleep and sex; keep regular sleep and wake times; eliminate afternoon caffeine; banish pets (and snoring partners) from the bedroom; ensure the bedroom is a dark, cool, quiet place; and get computers and TVs out of the sleep environment, because they stimulate the brain and their light tells the body “it’s daytime,” disrupting the internal clock.

Break the rules when necessary. While experts’ common-sense recommendations about sleep hygiene should be the first line of defense against insomnia, selectively breaking them can sometimes help, too. TV isn’t recommended, for example, but a DVD or show (make it a boring one) may put some people to sleep. “Listen to experts’ rules; don’t throw them out,” says Gayle Greene, 65, a lifelong insomniac who has learned to cope. But “bend them, make them work for you.”

Develop a pre-bed relaxation ritual. “Adults need these rituals, too,” says Meir Kryger, director of sleep research and education at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn. “You’d be amazed at how helpful they can actually be.” To develop a nonstimulating evening ritual, you might recall what your parents did when you were young to get you in sleep mode. Or try taking a hot bath or sipping a warm cup of chamomile tea; either will raise your core body temperature, which leads to a drowsy feeling as you cool down, says Lisa Shives, medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Ill.

Try not to self-medicate. “I personally don’t recommend that people just go out and treat themselves with over-the-counter medications,” says Kryger. “They never solve the problem; they’ll just help you get through.” Pharmacies certainly offer lots of sleep remedies. There are antihistamines, like Benadryl, which have a sedative side effect. (The ingredient that causes drowsiness is also found in products like Tylenol PM and Advil PM.) But those medications can induce next-day grogginess—what some patients call “sleep hangovers”—and they can actually have an alerting or a disorienting effect on the elderly, says Shives. Other OTC options include melatonin supplements and valerian extracts, although evidence of the effectiveness of either is slim, a National Institutes of Health insomnia consensus panel concluded in 2005. And, as Shives says of melatonin, valerian, and similar substances, “Nobody’s regulating this stuff.”

Don’t drink to sleep. Sure, sloshing down a little Pinot Noir will put you to sleep, but as the alcohol is metabolized by the body, it fragments sleep, which tends to cause nighttime awakenings and next-day tiredness. “People have the misconception that alcohol helps,” says Ralph Downey III, chief of sleep medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. “It doesn’t.”

Create a barrier between work and sleep. You want to have some sort of break from the day’s stress before sleep, advises Lawrence Epstein, medical director of Sleep HealthCenters in Boston and coauthor of The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep. If you know you’re going to bed at 10:30, stop your day at 10:15, or sooner if you can. Shortchanging that break can be a recipe for insomnia. Write down all the things you need to worry about on a piece of paper, and do your best to leave them behind. Whether asleep or awake, there’s likely nothing you can do about them until tomorrow, anyway.

Don’t “catastrophize.” People who can’t sleep tend to compound the problem by fretting about the consequences of their sleeplessness, like the possibility that they’ll do a bad job at work and get fired. Catastrophizing a sleep problem, however, tends to further engrain it, says Shives. “I try to get [people] to calm down,” she says. “But that’s kind of like telling a depressed person to perk up.”

Retreat to a “safe room.” Don’t stew in bed. Create a “safe room” to retreat to when sleep escapes you, Downey advises. If awake for more than 20 minutes after your head hits the pillow, get out of bed and go to that room. Don’t turn on a light, don’t go on the Internet, don’t read a book; just relax, he says, for 20 minutes, or until sleepy. Repeat as necessary, all night long. This process is called conditioning. You want to prevent your bedroom from becoming associated with frustration. If you live in a dorm or a studio apartment, Downey says, use a screen to carve out a sitting nook away from the bed.

Exercise. While experts advise against vigorous exercise too close to bedtime, a morning or evening workout can be beneficial. “We know that it promotes the slowest waves of sleep,” says Mary Susan Esther, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Not working? Talk to your doctor. Everybody may have episodes of sleep trouble. But if insomnia persists for several weeks, especially if it’s disrupting your daytime activities, discuss it with a doctor or ask to be referred to a sleep specialist. (A survey released this week by the National Sleep Foundation found that only 32 percent of Americans who have sleep problems discuss them with their doctors.) Some people may be physiologically susceptible to chronic insomnia, says Epstein, while others may bring it on by developing bad coping habits. If an underlying psychiatric condition isn’t to blame, says Downey, untreated insomnia could end up contributing to one. “Jump on [insomnia] within six months or you [may] end up treating depression, anxiety, and [other psychiatric] disorders” later, he says. Prescription medications may be explored but are usually a last resort, says Kryger. Cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps people unlearn bad behaviors, is another possibility.

According to ScienceNewsOnline: Napless cats awaken interest in adenosine, sleep may be a way of recharging the brain, using adenosine as a signal that the brain needs to rest: “Since adenosine secretion reflects brain cell activity, rising concentrations of this chemical may be how the organ gauges that it has been burning up its energy reserves and needs to shut down for a while.” Adenosine levels in the brain rise during wakefulness and decline during sleep.

If you’ve had one or two bad nights lately, you can probably solve the problem by taking some of the measures below. These strategies may require you to change your sleeping habits, but the effort is well worth it in the long run.

1. Make your bedroom a haven for sleep. Your room should be quiet and sufficiently dark, because darkness prompts the pineal gland to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates circadian rhythms (your 24-hour body clock). Heavy drapes can help keep the light out, and a fan or white-noise machine can help drown out any annoying sounds. Cool temperatures help you sleep, so set your thermostat appropriately. For better air circulation, open a window or use a fan. If the air in the room is too dry, buy a humidifier.

2. Become a creature of habit. A nighttime routine can be very effective in letting your body know when it’s time to sleep. Go through whatever rituals help you get mentally prepared for sleep. (Read a few pages of your novel, spend 5 to 10 minutes on personal grooming, meditate, stretch.) It’s also critical to go to bed and get up at the same time every day — even on weekends.

3. Reserve your bed just for sleeping and sex. Avoid working, paying bills, reading, or watching television in bed. If you associate your bed only with sleep, you’ll be more likely to fall asleep when you get under the covers for the night.

4. Tame your tummy. Going to bed either hungry or too full can disrupt your sleep. Don’t have a big meal too close to bedtime or the digestion process might keep you awake. Also, if you lie down after stuffing yourself you can end up with gastric reflux — stomach acid backing up into the esophagus. If you’re hungry, have a snack rich in carbohydrates, which trigger the release of the brain chemical serotonin, associated with relaxation. Try a graham cracker or bowl of cereal. Pair it with some milk or a slice of turkey, both rich in the amino acid tryptophan, which also induces sleep.

5. Watch the caffeine. Too much caffeine throughout the day, even if it’s not consumed right before bedtime, can contribute to fitful slumber. Once you hit 50, your metabolism slows, so caffeine may stay in your system longer — up to 10 hours. Limit yourself to two cups of tea, coffee, or cola, taken at least 6 hours before bedtime. If that doesn’t work, try cutting out caffeine altogether.

6. Tap the exercise answer. It’s a simple fact: If you’re physically tired at the end of the day, you’ll sleep better. In a study from Stanford University School of Medicine, a group of 50- to 76-year-olds who had complained of sleep problems began moderate exercise for about half an hour four times a week. Compared with a similar group of people who didn’t exercise, the more active group slept an average of one hour more each night, took less time to fall asleep, spent less time napping, and reported an overall improvement in sleep quality. Outdoor exercise is especially helpful. By exposing yourself to sunlight (particularly in the afternoon), you help prevent midday sleepiness and reinforce your body’s circadian rhythms. Exercise at least three hours before bedtime.

7. Soak it up. Take a warm bath an hour or two before bed. Your body temperature will slowly drop after you get out of the tub, making you feel tired. Don’t bathe right before bed, however, because it can briefly stimulate you enough to make it hard to fall asleep.

8. Drift off naturally. Investigate the benefits of chamomile, valerian, kava, passionflower, skullcap, catnip, or hops. These herbs can be taken in tea and other forms. A cup of chamomile tea before bedtime may be all you need to relax. If you’re trying valerian, the suggested dose for the concentrated form is equal to two to three grams of the root a day. But don’t combine valerian with alcohol or mood-regulating drugs. If you’re using kava, try a dose of between 60 and 120 mg before bedtime.

9. Don’t toss and turn. If 30 minutes go by and you haven’t fallen asleep, don’t lie in bed feeling frustrated. Get up and do something relaxing, like listening to soothing music or flipping through a magazine. Or make yourself a cup of warm milk.

10. Buy the right bed. A bed that’s too soft can cause poor sleep postures (which can also lead to muscle stiffness and back problems). If you’re leaving a divot in the mattress when you get up, it’s too soft. Replace your mattress if it’s more than 10 years old, and buy one that’s as firm as you can tolerate but still comfortable.