Decrease Your Sleep and Increase Your Risk for
Diabetes
Chronic sleep loss can reduce the capacity of even young adults to perform basic metabolic functions, such as processing and storing carbohydrates or regulating hormone secretion, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center in the October 23, 1999 issue of The Lancet. Cutting back from the standard eight down to four hours of sleep each night produced striking changes in glucose tolerance and endocrine function--changes that resembled the effects of advanced age or the early stages of diabetes--after less than one week.
Although many studies have examined the short-term effects of acute, total sleep deprivation on the brain, this is the first to investigate the impact of chronic, partial sleep loss on the body by evaluating the metabolism and hormone secretion of subjects subjected to sleep restriction and after sleep recovery.
"We found that the metabolic and endocrine changes resulting from a significant sleep debt mimic many of the hallmarks of aging," said Eve Van Cauter, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and director of the study. "We suspect that chronic sleep loss may not only hasten the onset but could also increase the severity of age-related ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and memory loss."
[...]
A chronic lack of sleep may cause far more serious problems than a tendency to nod off
the next day. People who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis may become
which, over time, can raise the risk of
less
sensitive to insulin
obesity
high blood pressure
diabetes
In fact, Dr. Eve Van Cauter at the University of Chicago found that chronic sleep
deprivation--
of sleep a night--had the same effect on insulin
resistance as aging.
6.5 hours or less
Just like poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress and aging,
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body loses its ability to respond to insulin, the body's key
blood sugar-regulating hormone. This insulin resistance causes blood sugar levels to
rise, which in turn can increase the risk for a number of serious medical complications
including kidney damage, heart disease, blindness and lower limb amputations.
sleep loss is a risk
factor (for type 2 diabetes).
According to the study healthy adults who averaged 316 minutes of sleep a night--about
5.2 hours--over 8 consecutive nights secreted 50% more insulin than their more rested
counterparts who averaged 477 minutes of sleep a night, or about 8 hours.
As a result,
"short sleepers'' were
less sensitive to insulin.
40%
The researchers suggest that sleep deprivation, which is becoming commonplace in
industrialized countries, may play a role in the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes. A poll by
the National Sleep Foundation found a steady decline in the number of hours Americans
sleep each night. In 1975, the average American slept 7.5 hours, down from 9 hours in
1910. Today, adults sleep about 7 hours a night.
American Diabetes Association's Annual Meeting June 25, 2001
Philadelphia
Diabetes
Chronic sleep loss can reduce the capacity of even young adults to perform basic metabolic functions, such as processing and storing carbohydrates or regulating hormone secretion, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center in the October 23, 1999 issue of The Lancet. Cutting back from the standard eight down to four hours of sleep each night produced striking changes in glucose tolerance and endocrine function--changes that resembled the effects of advanced age or the early stages of diabetes--after less than one week.
Although many studies have examined the short-term effects of acute, total sleep deprivation on the brain, this is the first to investigate the impact of chronic, partial sleep loss on the body by evaluating the metabolism and hormone secretion of subjects subjected to sleep restriction and after sleep recovery.
"We found that the metabolic and endocrine changes resulting from a significant sleep debt mimic many of the hallmarks of aging," said Eve Van Cauter, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and director of the study. "We suspect that chronic sleep loss may not only hasten the onset but could also increase the severity of age-related ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and memory loss."
[...]
A chronic lack of sleep may cause far more serious problems than a tendency to nod off
the next day. People who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis may become
which, over time, can raise the risk of
less
sensitive to insulin
obesity
high blood pressure
diabetes
In fact, Dr. Eve Van Cauter at the University of Chicago found that chronic sleep
deprivation--
of sleep a night--had the same effect on insulin
resistance as aging.
6.5 hours or less
Just like poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress and aging,
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body loses its ability to respond to insulin, the body's key
blood sugar-regulating hormone. This insulin resistance causes blood sugar levels to
rise, which in turn can increase the risk for a number of serious medical complications
including kidney damage, heart disease, blindness and lower limb amputations.
sleep loss is a risk
factor (for type 2 diabetes).
According to the study healthy adults who averaged 316 minutes of sleep a night--about
5.2 hours--over 8 consecutive nights secreted 50% more insulin than their more rested
counterparts who averaged 477 minutes of sleep a night, or about 8 hours.
As a result,
"short sleepers'' were
less sensitive to insulin.
40%
The researchers suggest that sleep deprivation, which is becoming commonplace in
industrialized countries, may play a role in the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes. A poll by
the National Sleep Foundation found a steady decline in the number of hours Americans
sleep each night. In 1975, the average American slept 7.5 hours, down from 9 hours in
1910. Today, adults sleep about 7 hours a night.
American Diabetes Association's Annual Meeting June 25, 2001
Philadelphia
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