Lack of sleep increases risk of type 2 diabetes

2024-04-17 18:13:00

Researchers from the United Kingdom analyzed data from 247,867 adults and followed their health outcomes for more than a decade. They wanted to understand the associations between sleep duration and type 2 diabetes, and whether a healthy diet reduced the effects of insufficient sleep. on the risk of diabetes. They asked participants approximately how much sleep they get in 24 hours. Seven to eight hours was the average sleep and was considered normal. Short sleep duration was divided into three categories: mild (six hours), moderate (five hours), and extreme (three to four hours). The researchers analyzed sleep data along with information about people’s diet.

About 3.2% of participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the follow-up period. Although healthy eating habits were associated with a lower overall risk of diabetes, when people ate healthily but slept less than six hours a day, their risk of type 2 diabetes increased compared to people in the normal sleep category.

The researchers found that a sleep duration of five hours was linked to a 16% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while the risk for people who slept three to four hours was 41% higher, compared to people who slept for seven to eight hours. One limitation is that the study defined a healthy diet based on the number of servings of fruits, vegetables, red meat and fish a person consumed during a day or week. In doing so, it did not consider how dietary patterns such as schedule-restricted eating or the Mediterranean diet may modify diabetes risk among those who slept less.

In people with type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to the effects of a hormone called insulin and gradually loses the ability to produce a sufficient amount in the pancreas. Insulin is important because it regulates the glucose (sugar) in the blood that comes from the food we eat, helping to move it to cells throughout the body.

Sleep-deprived people often have increased inflammatory markers and free fatty acids in the blood, which affects insulin sensitivity and leads to insulin resistance. This means that the body has difficulty using insulin properly to regulate blood glucose levels and therefore increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Additionally, people who don’t get enough sleep, as well as people who sleep in irregular patterns (such as shift workers), experience disruptions to their body’s natural rhythm, known as the circadian rhythm.

This can interfere with the release of hormones such as cortisol, glucagon, and growth hormones. These hormones are released throughout the day to meet the body’s changing energy needs and typically keep blood glucose levels well balanced. If they are compromised, this can reduce the body’s ability to handle glucose as the day progresses. These factors, and others, may contribute to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes seen among people who sleep less than six hours. While this study primarily focused on people who sleep eight hours or less, it is possible that those who sleep longer also face a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

Another reason why getting more sleep is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes may be related to weight gain, which is also correlated with longer sleep; people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight or obesity.

Based on this study and other evidence, it appears that when it comes to diabetes risk, seven to eight hours of sleep may be the sweet spot. However, other factors could influence the relationship between sleep duration and diabetes risk, such as individual differences in sleep quality and lifestyle.

While the findings of this study call into question whether a healthy diet can mitigate the effects of lack of sleep on diabetes risk, a wide range of evidence points to the benefits of a healthy diet for overall health.