Diabetes Study Long sleep for men health risky

Men suffer much less sleep than women
Women now have the perfect excuse to stay in bed a little longer. Extra sleep can reduce the risk of diabetes in women. However, in men exactly the opposite is the case. Researchers have now found that men who stay longer in bed are more likely to develop diabetes.

The Dutch scientists from the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam found that men increase their risk of diabetes due to too much - but also irregular and interrupted sleep. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism".

Sleep is important to our health. However, men seem to be at increased risk for diabetes if they sleep too much. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Diabetes can lead to blindness and amputations
More and more people around the world are suffering from diabetes. The condition can lead to life-threatening complications. Diabetes can cause strokes, heart attacks, kidney disease and circulatory disorders, and blindness can occur, the researchers say. Ot must also be amputated by the impact of diabetes complete limbs (diabetic foot).

Study examines 800 subjects on their sleep behavior and insulin processing
The Dutch research team has now studied nearly 800 healthy middle-aged men and women for its new study. The volunteers wore a sleep-following device and underwent tests to determine how well their bodies were able to use insulin, the experts explain. Insulin is a sugar-processing hormone whose release does not work well in diabetics. The volunteers slept on average seven hours and 18 minutes.

Women with better insulin sensitivity
Women who slept longer showed increased insulin sensitivity. The longer the female test subjects fell asleep, the better, according to the researchers was the sensitivity to the hormone. This suggests that their risk of diabetes is reduced by more sleep, say the doctors. Interestingly, the lack of sleep was also associated with better use of insulin in women, the researchers report.

Both too little and too much sleep leads to diabetes in men
However, the results for men were the opposite. According to scientists, men are generally known to have less deep, restful sleep than women. The results of the new study now show that men who sleep more than average have a poorer ability to process insulin. This means a higher risk of diabetes. Too short a sleep was also harmful for men, the researchers report. Our sleep can be disturbed for different reasons. For example, previous studies found that eating fat interferes with healthy sleep, and that stress at work damages sleep.

There is a gender relationship between sleep duration and glucose metabolism
In a group of almost 800 healthy people, we were able to observe gender-specific relationships between sleep duration and glucose metabolism. Femke Rutters from the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam. If men sleep too little, glucose intake will be reduced. This increases the risk of developing diabetes in the future. In women, these effects could not be observed.

Sleep is important for your health
It is undisputed among medical professionals how important sleep is for health. Obviously, men's health suffers more from sleep deprivation. However, it remains unclear why additional sleep is also bad for men's health, adds the author. Femke Rutters added. (As)