Lack of Sleep May Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Two things that are absolutely essential for any other natural therapy to work for any condition is exercise and sleep. The results of this article should not be surprising. Poor sleep or lack of sleep is a stress on the body and the body responds by producing cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol is known to increase insulin resistance…thus predisposing to diabetes. There are many ways to get a better night’s sleep…valerian root, hops, passionflower are just a few of the herbs known to have a sedative effect and help with sleep. Exercise, a mattress that’s right for you and maintaining a healthy sleep schedule are also part of the program.
American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting A chronic lack of sleep may cause far more serious problems than a tendency to nod off the next day, researchers warn. Their study results, presented here Monday at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting, show that people who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis may become less sensitive to insulin. In fact, chronic sleep deprivation — 6.5 hours or less of sleep a night — had the same effect on insulin resistance as aging, says co-investigator Bryce A. Mander, a research assistant at the University of Chicago in Illinois. “Just like poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress and aging, sleep loss is a…risk factor” for type 2 diabetes, Mander said. In the study, led by Dr. Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago, healthy adults who averaged 316 minutes of sleep a night — about 5.2 hours — over 8 consecutive nights secreted 50% more insulin than those who averaged 477 minutes of sleep a night, or about 8 hours. As a result, “short sleepers” were 40% less sensitive to insulin. 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. Mander cited a poll by the National (US) Sleep Foundation documenting 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, he said.