Poor Sleep May Contribute to Diabetes

It is no secret that the incidence of diabetes, especially Type 2 or Adult-onset diabetes, is on the rise in developed nations such as the UK and here in the US. There are many factors that contribute to this increase, including a high-sugar/high-fat diet, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle, but a recently released study now indicates that a lack of quality sleep may also play a role.

The importance of getting enough of the right kinds of sleep cannot be understated regarding our overall health and wellness. Ongoing research continues to unveil how critical sleep is to the immune system and disease fighting functions of the body, as well as to our mental and emotional stability. In fact, the body does most of its healing and repair work between the hours of 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM. In all the hustle-bustle of our hectic schedules, getting insufficient amounts of good sleep is a common problem for many in this day and age. People are burning the midnight oil in front of computers or the TV, which adds bright light at a time during the day when light should be at a minimum. This wreaks havoc with the natural circadian rhythms of the body. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate our priorities and better understand the necessity of securing the sleep we need to function at our best from day to day. A very important New Years Resolution to possibly add to your 2008 Goal List would be to get in bed every night by 10:00 PM in order to allow your body the time it needs for critical healing and repair work. Chances are you will experience results that will astound you! Should you find yourself experiencing difficulty in getting a good nights sleep, the following article from the OAW Health Knowledge Base may help: http://www.oasisadvancedwellness.com/learning/great-night-sleep.html


Disturbed sleep brings risk of type 2 diabetes, says study
James Randerson, science correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday January 1 2008

Successive nights of disturbed sleep appear to put people at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to research in which scientists interfered with volunteers' sleep patterns.

The research is the first to show that disturbed sleep can affect the production of insulin, and consequently a person's ability to metabolise glucose. It could have huge implications for understanding and tackling the diabetes epidemic that is predicted to grip western countries due to increasingly obese populations.

According to the leading charity Diabetes UK, there are more than 2.3 million people with diabetes in the UK, and up to 750,000 more who have the condition but do not know it.

Between 85% and 95% of diabetes cases are type 2, which typically develops later in life and is linked to obesity.

Eve Van Cauter, a professor at the University of Chicago, and colleagues studied five healthy men and four healthy women aged between 20 and 31. The volunteers received two consecutive nights of undisturbed sleep and three nights during which they were prevented from entering the most restorative stages three and four of slow-wave sleep - a time when you do not dream.

The scientists achieved this by monitoring the volunteers' brain waves and jolting them out of slow-wave sleep with recorded sounds that were not loud enough to actually interrupt sleep. On average, the volunteers needed 250 to 300 interventions a night.

After allowing the volunteers either normal or impaired sleep, the researchers injected a standard amount of glucose into their bloodstreams and monitored how well they dealt with it.

The team reports today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that after three nights of disturbed sleep the volunteers were significantly glucose-intolerant: they had, on average, 23% more glucose in their blood. That is a decrease in insulin sensitivity comparable to that caused by gaining 9-13kg (20-30lb) in weight. Also, those with low baseline levels of slow-wave sleep had the lowest levels after having their sleep patterns disrupted; they also experienced the greatest decrease in insulin sensitivity.

"These findings demonstrate a clear role for slow-wave sleep in maintaining normal glucose control," said team member Esra Tasali. "A profound decrease in slow-wave sleep had an immediate and significant adverse effect on insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance."
The results suggest obesity and a lack of quality sleep may interact to cause type 2 diabetes.

"Since reduced amounts of deep sleep are typical of ageing and of common obesity-related sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnoea, these results suggest that strategies to improve sleep quality, as well as quantity, may help to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in populations at risk," said Van Cauter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jan/01/medicalresearch.health/print