Lack of sleep is linked to diabetes risk – even if you eat a healthy diet

Not getting enough sleep may increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

Researchers found that people who slept less than six hours were more likely to develop the disease. It’s important to note that even if you’re eating a diet that researchers consider healthy, that doesn’t mean you’re at risk.

This study JAMA network openincreasing evidence suggests that adequate sleep is important in preventing type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough of the hormone insulin or doesn’t use it properly. Insulin helps blood sugar move into the body’s cells for energy. Insulin deficiency causes elevated blood sugar levels, which over time can lead to type 2 diabetes.

“Previous studies, including both cohort studies like ours and experimental studies, have demonstrated that repeated short sleep durations are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.” said the study authors. Dr. Diana Aline NogaA neuroscientist from Uppsala University in Sweden said: health.

She added that her research shows that the link between sleep deprivation and type 2 diabetes still exists even among people who eat a healthy diet.

He said the importance of sleep hasn’t always received attention, but that’s changing as a result of research like this new study. Dr. Jin Wangclinical director of the Mount Sinai Integrative Sleep Center and associate professor of medicine specializing in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“I think this is something that has become much more recognized in recent years by the public and scientists,” she said. health.

The authors extracted data on 247,000 people collected between 2006 and 2010 for the UK Biobank, an extensive biomedical database.

The researchers divided the participants into groups based on whether they slept seven to eight hours, six hours, five hours, or three to four hours each day.

The researchers also analyzed the participants’ eating habits and ranked them on a scale of 0 (unhealthiest) to 5 (healthiest). The ranking took into account whether participants regularly ate red or processed meat, fruits, vegetables, and fish.

Researchers followed participants for a median of 12.5 years to study the relationship between sleep deprivation, diet, and the development of type 2 diabetes.

“This analysis included age, gender, socio-economic status, [and] things like the frequency of insomnia symptoms,” Noga said.

The research team found that there was no association between a healthy diet and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes among participants who slept less than six hours a day.

Experts said the study shows that staying healthy is about more than just diet and exercise.

“Sleep, diet, and exercise together are the foundation of good health.” Nancy Foldvary Shafer, DO, MSsaid the director of the Sleep Disorders Center and professor of neurology at the Cleveland Clinic. health. “If you don’t get enough quality or quantity of sleep, you won’t get optimal results from your diet or exercise.”

Studies have also shown a link between sleep deprivation and type 2 diabetes, but Noga said there is not yet enough evidence to say that sleep deprivation causes the condition. Given the research we currently have, “it’s difficult to make such a direct claim,” she said.

The researchers studied how the only Caucasian participants and specific eating plans, such as time-restricted eating and the Mediterranean diet, affected type 2 diabetes risk in people with different sleep habits. He pointed out several limitations of this study, including that it did not investigate.

Conditions other than type 2 diabetes are also associated with sleep deprivation.

“Lack of sleep leads to decreased daytime activity, [which can cause] These include poor academic performance, workplace conflicts and mistakes, mental health issues, and car accidents,” Foldvari-Schaefer said. “Many cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and central nervous system disorders are now associated with sleep deprivation.”

While many people believe they can perform at their best with a lack of sleep, “only 1-2% of the population are genetically pre-wired to need less sleep,” she says. .

Despite sleep being associated with negative health outcomes, one in three adults in the United States doesn’t get enough sleep, he noted.

A typical adult should aim for seven to nine hairs a day, she said, but that can vary depending on an individual’s unique circumstances.

If you think you’re getting enough sleep but aren’t getting enough rest, Wang recommends talking to your health care provider about the cause of your symptoms. “Even if you get nine hours of sleep, if you have really severe obstructive sleep apnea, you may still feel tired,” says Wang. “There are some nuances.”

Given the importance of sleep to overall health, she suggests establishing healthy sleep habits right away if you don’t currently have them.

“Sleep serves an important function in helping our bodies and brains recover from the day’s wake and work,” Foldvary-Schäfer added. “It effectively resets every cell in every organ of our body and brain.”