New Study Links Little Sleep to Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

According to a recent medical study, lack of sleep could increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The researchers involved in the study say that getting too little sleep can lead to an increased level of free fatty acids in the blood.

According to the scientists, these free fatty acids can disrupt the ability of the insulin hormone to normally regulate the blood sugar levels.

Scientists say the results of their recent research suggest that getting a normal amount of sleep could reduce the high rates of obesity and the risks of diabetes.

Dr. Esra Tasali, senior author of the study, explained in a news release that many studies have shown a connection between poor sleep, type 2 diabetes and weight gain. Dr. Esra Tasali is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
The recent study included 19 healthy adult men, aged between 18 and 30. The participants were observed in two sleep scenarios: in the first one, they slept a normal period of sleep, about 8 hours a night. They did this for four consecutive nights.

In the other scenario, the participants were allowed to sleep approximately 4 hours a night.
After the experiments, the researchers observed that when the men slept only four hours a night, their blood levels of fatty acids went up and remained high for approximately five hours the in the morning hours. The levels usually increase and then go down over night.

According to the experts, as long as the levels of fatty acids remained high, the insulin could not regulate the blood levels as it usually does.

One of the leading researchers of the study, Josiane Broussard, explained that getting little sleep causes insulin to lose its benefits.

The insulin action observed in the young men resembled what is usually present in the onset of diabetes.
This means that lack of sleep affects the metabolism , while getting a normal eight hours sleep can reduce the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Josiane Broussard is a postdoctoral researcher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute in Los Angeles.
The scientists detailed their findings in a study published in the journal Diabetologia.
Image Source: fmdiabetes

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Christina Langfold

Remember that weird girl in school who never quite managed to fit in? Who was always silent and strange? That was me during my entire teenage life. A few years after finishing college (with a degree in arts) I decided that the best way to become more sociable, while also feeling safe, is to test my people skills online.