Researchers found that otherwise healthy young people who were sleep-deprived had greater insulin resistance than people who got the recommended amount of rest.
Lack of sleep may hike diabetes risk
Too few ZZZs found to impair body’s use of insulin
PHILADELPHIA, June 25 — America’s sleep debt may be contributing to the soaring incidence of diabetes in this country, researchers reported here Monday.
A NEW STUDY found that healthy young people who regularly got less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night had greater insulin resistance than people who got 7.5 to 8.5 hours of rest.
Insulin resistance — a precursor to diabetes that afflicts an estimated 20 million to 30 million Americans — is a condition in which the body does not use insulin as efficiently as it should. Insulin is a hormone that is needed for the body’s cells to convert glucose, or blood sugar, into energy.
About 16 million Americans have diabetes, and rates are on the rise. The most common form of the disease, known as type 2 diabetes, results when the body does not make enough, or fails to properly use, insulin.
Experts say cases of type 2 diabetes are soaring largely because of increasing obesity and sedentary behavior.
But poor sleep habits may also play a role, possibly because improper rest increases stress on the body, elevating various hormones that interfere with how the body uses insulin, said sleep researcher Eve Van Cauter, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, who conducted the new study.
“There’s a real possibility that one of the causes of the epidemic of diabetes is related to sleep habits,” she said at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
NO TIME TO SLEEP
At the same time that diabetes rates are increasing, Americans are sleeping less and less, she noted. “America is probably the most sleep-deprived country.”
A recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that more than 60 percent of Americans do not get the recommended eight hours of sleep. And more than a third of people said that hectic lifestyles mean they get less sleep now than five years ago.
Lack of sleep is a major contributor to poor productivity at school and work, as well as nodding off behind the wheel. In addition, it can weaken the body’s immune system.
“I think people have to watch their sleep the same way we watch nutrition and exercise,” Van Cauter said. “We are not biologically wired for sleep deprivation.”
Barbara Corkey, a professor of medicine and biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the ADA, said it is plausible that poor sleep habits could contribute to diabetes.
“My guess would be that stressors that make you susceptible to many conditions are probably going to make you more susceptible to diabetes as well,” she said.
NEW RESEARCH
The study involved nearly 30 healthy people ages 23 to 42, half of whom were “short sleepers” and half of whom were “normal sleepers.” The eight-day study required the participants to use both wrist monitors and head gear to record their sleep patterns.
Blood tests taken at the end of the study showed that the short sleepers had 40 percent less insulin sensitivity than the normal sleepers.
“This suggests a link between short sleep and insulin resistance,” Van Cauter said.
With a grant from the ADA, Van Cauter and colleagues are conducting a new study that will seek to determine if people who already have type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance can improve their condition by getting more sleep.
Another form of diabetes, type 1, is an autoimmune condition that generally develops in childhood and runs in families. It makes up 5 percent to 10 percent of cases. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin and must take insulin therapy to survive.
Van Cauter said little is known about the effects of sleep in people with this form of the disease.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/591319.asp
Too few ZZZs found to impair body’s use of insulin 
