TUESDAY, July 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A new study finds that consistently poor sleep quality increases a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Both insufficient sleep and excessive sleep are associated with diabetes risk, with those who fluctuate wildly between the two patterns of insufficient sleep posing the greatest risk, researchers recently reported in the journal Neurology. Diabetology.
The findings support the idea that “sleep health in midlife, especially maintaining a regular sleep schedule over the long term, is important for reducing the risk of cardiometabolic deterioration,” the researchers said. Kelsey Fullis a behavioral epidemiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
For the study, researchers analyzed the long-term sleep patterns of more than 36,000 adults who participated in a population-based health survey of 12 southeastern states in the U.S. About 62% of the participants were black.
The researchers looked at participants' sleep patterns, as reported at the start of the study and at follow-up assessments an average of five years later. Insufficient sleep was defined as less than seven hours or more than nine hours of sleep per night.
“One of the main strengths of our study is that we focused on long-term sleep patterns rather than one-off measurements,” said the lead researcher. ChiakiAssociate Professor of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Science at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.
The results showed that the strongest associations with diabetes were among people who reported extreme changes in their sleep patterns.
The study found that people who went from sleeping too little to gradually changing to sleeping too long had the highest risk of diabetes – 51 percent higher than those who consistently maintained normal sleep patterns.
The next highest risk was among people who started out sleeping more but ended up sleeping less, who had a 45 percent increased risk of diabetes compared to those who consistently slept normally, the researchers found.
“By focusing on long-term sleep patterns, we demonstrate the importance of maintaining healthy sleep patterns over time for metabolic health,” Xiao said in a Vanderbilt University news release.
Other studies have also linked extreme fluctuations in sleep patterns to poorer blood sugar control, the researchers said.
The researchers added that abnormally long sleep duration could also reflect diabetes-related fatigue or the presence of other risk factors associated with chronic disease.
The researchers said studies are needed to evaluate whether improved sleep translates into improved health.
The new findings are in line with those of another study published last week of 84,000 people taking part in an ongoing British study.
The findings, published July 17 in the journal Neurology, Diabetes CareA study has found that people with irregular sleep patterns, defined as sleep duration varying by more than 60 minutes on average from night to night, are 34% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
For more information
The National Institutes of Health has more information Sleep disorders and type 2 diabetes.
Source: Vanderbilt University, news release, June 27, 2024