Not getting enough sleep increases the risk of diabetes

Even if you're healthy, sleeping too much or too little can have adverse effects on your health.

The link between sleep and diabetes

“Many previous studies have linked sleep problems to diabetes, but the reasons behind this association are not well understood,” said study author Femke Rutters of the Vrije University Medical Center Amsterdam.

Current research suggests one explanation: insulin resistance (a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates blood glucose levels; a lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes).

Researchers examined data on sleep patterns and insulin resistance for 788 men and women without diabetes. People with obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol were excluded from the analysis.

To measure sleep, researchers required participants to wear accelerometers for most of the workday. Time spent without the motion detectors for longer than an hour was counted as sleep.

The study found that the average person slept 7.3 hours a night. Men who slept more or less than average were more likely to be insulin resistant than those who slept just enough. However, the opposite was true for women. Women were less insulin resistant when they slept more or less than average. So far, the gender difference has not been explained.

“The results for women contradict those of many previous studies,” said Dr. James Gangwisch, a researcher at Columbia University in New York who was not involved in the study. “One drawback of this study is that it did not examine what people ate during the experiment. Getting enough sleep can help support insulin sensitivity and increase appetite. At the same time, getting enough sleep can also help provide the energy needed for regular exercise.”

Kristen Knutson, a researcher at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the study, also commented: “One limitation of the study is the way people measured sleep. Counting all the hours people don’t have acceleration as sleep time may be inaccurate because it won’t capture when people wake up during the night, or sleep irregularly.”

However, research has shown that irregularities in your sleep patterns may be a cause of diabetes.

Golden tips for your sleep

The message this experiment brings is that even if you are healthy, sleeping too much or too little can have adverse effects on your health.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most adults need about seven to eight hours of sleep a night. In addition to increasing the risk of diabetes, sleep deprivation is also linked to other chronic health problems such as obesity, depression, and heart disease.

Getting enough sleep is a simple way to help protect your health. So no matter how busy or free you are, always make time for your sleep.

According to Young Knowledge