Sleep Pattern And Type-2 Diabetes: New Study Decodes The Link

A new study alerts that bad sleeping habits like, sleeping late and waking up late might just be the cause of type-2 diabetes.

Many of us follow a very chaotic schedule which often includes staying up till late night. But did you know that sleeping late at night till late in the morning may lead to type-2 diabetes? Yes, it is indeed true and it has been proven by a study published in the Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers state that it may increase people’s risk of developing diabetes, especially for middle-aged women.

The study was conducted on women so; there is less data about men in this subject. However, the findings of this study are legitimate and state a clear link between sleep habits and type-2 diabetes. This means that, men too could get it and it is better to be safe than sorry. In the first step, the researchers collected data from a sample of 63,676 female nurses between the ages of 45 and 62. Note that, none of these women had any history of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases o cancer before the study began.

In the next step of the study, they tracked certain behaviours of these women for almost eight years for instance their quality of diet, alcohol consumption, physical activities, smoking habits, BMI and sleep habits.

What Did The Study Reveal?

The study revealed that people who had a habit of irregular sleep timings, staying up till late and sleeping in till late were 54 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes. Irregular sleep pattern also increases their risk of leading an unhealthy lifestyle. An unhealthy lifestyle such as this might include bad and unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. These too can play a major role in spiking the blood sugar levels.

However, researchers conclude that, the influence of bad sleep habits on blood sugar level was found to be a lot more than the other factors.

Bottom Line

Adequate and timely sleep helps regulate blood sugar levels and promotes a healthy body weight. If this is not provided to our body, it will naturally suffer certain problems. It will have difficulty functioning normally. Poor sleep can result in metabolism problems which can also impact the rise and fall of blood sugar levels.

According to the data provided by The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, about 37.3 million people in the United States suffer from diabetes which comprises of almost 11.3 per cent of the country’s population. Among them, 28.7 million have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes which is even deadlier because it will eventually translate into diabetes.

You can avoid diabetes by bettering your lifestyle and this will include eating right, sleeping at the right time and the occasional exercise days.