Decrease Your Sleep & Increase Your Risk For Diabetes

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Decrease Your Sleep and Increase Your Risk for Diabetes

Submitted by Don Scott

A chronic lack of sleep may cause far more serious
problems than a tendency to nod off the next day.
People who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis
may become less sensitive to insulin which, over time,
can raise the risk of obesity, high blood pressure and
diabetes.

In fact, Dr. Eve Van Cauter at the University of
Chicago found that chronic sleep deprivation--6.5 hours
or less of sleep a night--had the same effect on
insulin resistance as aging.

Just like poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, chronic
stress and aging, sleep loss is a risk factor for type
2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body loses
its ability to respond to insulin, the body's key blood
sugar-regulating hormone. This insulin resistance
causes blood sugar levels to rise, which in turn can
increase the risk for a number of serious medical
complications including kidney damage, heart disease,
blindness and lower limb amputations.

According to the study healthy adults who averaged 316
minutes of sleep a night--about 5.2 hours--over 8
consecutive nights secreted 50% more insulin than their
more rested counterparts who averaged 477 minutes of
sleep a night, or about 8 hours.

As a result, "short sleepers" were 40% less sensitive
to insulin.

The researchers suggest that sleep deprivation, which
is becoming commonplace in industrialized countries,
may play a role in the current epidemic of type 2
diabetes. A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found
a steady decline in the number of hours Americans sleep
each night. In 1975, the average American slept 7.5
hours, down from 9 hours in 1910. Today, adults sleep
about 7 hours a night.