Diabetes Risk and Sleep, What's the Connection?
Roger Guzman, M.D.
July 03, 2009
Diabetes risk has long been an issue worth studying. After all, we all want a lower risk to develop this condition and we work hard at doing so. We gave up eating the beloved chips although every once in a while we visit the grocery aisles where they reside in splendor. We exercise although we have become such clock watchers impatient to see that thirty minutes is up.
Yet when it comes to the connection of diabetes risk to sleep, that's where we miss out on our list of priorities. Why is that? And what is the evidence to prove that it has ranked lower in our totem pole of needs? You may need to sit down for the following statistics.
Surveys have shown that the average sleep has gone down from the 1960 figure of 8 to 8.9 hours to 7 hours in 1995 and by 2004 the National Center for Health Statistics reported that one third of us had only less than 6 hours of sleep. Is that evidence enough for you?
As to the question of why this is so, it is easy to understand that there does not seem any commercial value to promote longer sleep. Besides the fact that while we are sleep, we are not really stimulating the economy. So, is there something we can do about this?
No, we did not really do too much about this at least not until after we were jolted into awakening when the connection between diabetes risk and sleep was released by a study. It looks like that how long we sleep affects the diabetes risk.
James E. Gangwisch, PhD studied the relationship between the duration of sleep and diabetes for eight to ten years from 1982 and 1992. There were 8992 participants who were between 32 and 86 years old. He noted in other studies that inadequate sleep is tied to a higher incidence of diabetes.
It is believed that eating in an unhealthy manner and getting less physical activity are the factors that contribute to diabetes but now another one feature of the modern lifestyle has come into focus as a contributor also. And this is the short sleep period.
The results of this study from Columbia University in New York reveals that participants who have five or less hours of sleep and those who sleep for nine hours or more are more likely to have diabetes than those who sleep for seven hours.
The short sleep period´s effect on diabetes is likely partly related to its influence on hypertension and body weight. Studies have shown that deprived sleep lowers glucose tolerance and compromise the sensitivity of insulin. The pancreas will become overworked and this leads to type 2 diabetes.
It follows then that if sleep deprivation raises resistance to insulin and lowers glucose tolerance then if the quality of sleep is improved, this could become a form of treatment to prevent diabetes. So let us all listen up and get enough sleep, shall we?
Regarding long sleep period, it is not known how it contributes to diabetes. The medical director of Sleep Health Centers, Lawrence Epstein, MD, who is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School said that this study is one of those that have revealed that people with less sleep have higher risk of developing diabetes. Now you have an idea as to the connection between sleep and diabetes risk.
Please visit these sites for more diabetes help:
Diabetes Prevention
Diabetes Risk Factors
Copyright © July 2, 2009 Roger Guzman, M.D. (Diabetes Risk and Sleep, What´s the Connection?) All Rights Reserved. You may copy and publish this article as long as the text, the author's name, the active links and this notice remain the same.
Yet when it comes to the connection of diabetes risk to sleep, that's where we miss out on our list of priorities. Why is that? And what is the evidence to prove that it has ranked lower in our totem pole of needs? You may need to sit down for the following statistics.
Surveys have shown that the average sleep has gone down from the 1960 figure of 8 to 8.9 hours to 7 hours in 1995 and by 2004 the National Center for Health Statistics reported that one third of us had only less than 6 hours of sleep. Is that evidence enough for you?
As to the question of why this is so, it is easy to understand that there does not seem any commercial value to promote longer sleep. Besides the fact that while we are sleep, we are not really stimulating the economy. So, is there something we can do about this?
No, we did not really do too much about this at least not until after we were jolted into awakening when the connection between diabetes risk and sleep was released by a study. It looks like that how long we sleep affects the diabetes risk.
James E. Gangwisch, PhD studied the relationship between the duration of sleep and diabetes for eight to ten years from 1982 and 1992. There were 8992 participants who were between 32 and 86 years old. He noted in other studies that inadequate sleep is tied to a higher incidence of diabetes.
It is believed that eating in an unhealthy manner and getting less physical activity are the factors that contribute to diabetes but now another one feature of the modern lifestyle has come into focus as a contributor also. And this is the short sleep period.
The results of this study from Columbia University in New York reveals that participants who have five or less hours of sleep and those who sleep for nine hours or more are more likely to have diabetes than those who sleep for seven hours.
The short sleep period´s effect on diabetes is likely partly related to its influence on hypertension and body weight. Studies have shown that deprived sleep lowers glucose tolerance and compromise the sensitivity of insulin. The pancreas will become overworked and this leads to type 2 diabetes.
It follows then that if sleep deprivation raises resistance to insulin and lowers glucose tolerance then if the quality of sleep is improved, this could become a form of treatment to prevent diabetes. So let us all listen up and get enough sleep, shall we?
Regarding long sleep period, it is not known how it contributes to diabetes. The medical director of Sleep Health Centers, Lawrence Epstein, MD, who is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School said that this study is one of those that have revealed that people with less sleep have higher risk of developing diabetes. Now you have an idea as to the connection between sleep and diabetes risk.
Please visit these sites for more diabetes help:
Diabetes Prevention
Diabetes Risk Factors
Copyright © July 2, 2009 Roger Guzman, M.D. (Diabetes Risk and Sleep, What´s the Connection?) All Rights Reserved. You may copy and publish this article as long as the text, the author's name, the active links and this notice remain the same.
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