Lack of sleep provokes diabetes and obesity

Lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity and diabetes

03/25/2014

People who sleep too little are at higher risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. This is the conclusion of scientists after analyzing numerous studies. They advise to pay attention to the sleep hygiene.

Lack of sleep endangers the health
For many people, lack of sleep is a serious problem. Be it for reasons of lack of firm sleep rhythms due to shift work or because the night's sleep is always too short: Anyone who permanently does not rest enough, endangers his health. As researchers from Germany and Switzerland now report, those at risk for overweight, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. The scientists published their findings in the medical journal „The Lancet Diabetes Endorinology“. As a precautionary measure, it could therefore be useful to improve sleep hygiene.

Risk for short sleepers and late sleepers
Bernd Schultes from the eSwiss Medical & Surgical Center in St. Gallen and his colleagues summarize the current state of research in this article. Short sleepers averaging less than five hours sleep per night therefore have an equally increased risk for the mentioned problem as late risers averaging more than eight hours sleep per night. For the scientists, the conclusion comes from large observational studies such as the US Nurses Health Study. Although such studies can very well show that some phenomena often occur simultaneously, for example, sleep deprivation and obesity, it still can not be answered on the basis of the data collected there, why this is so.

In case of lack of sleep, teenagers eat significantly more high-calorie foods
However, according to the researchers, smaller experimental studies have already shown how lack of sleep can affect metabolism. Thus, test persons reduced their blood sugar levels significantly more slowly after only a few nights with only four hours sleep each. Thus, even a changing sleep rhythm affects the glucose metabolism negative. It was also analyzed whether people eat more or take more calories when they sleep very little. As the research team writes, this has indeed been observed in most studies. For example, teenagers ate a lot more calorie-rich foods, such as snacks or sweets, when they were only allowed to sleep for a few nights.

Improve sleep hygiene
Another issue that was examined was whether people tend to move more or less after nights with little sleep. As the article says, the results are contradictory. All in all, however, there is a clear correlation between sleep and metabolism. Therefore, it might be worthwhile to improve the sleep hygiene in order to better prevent obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Some studies are currently underway to investigate whether behavioral therapy intended to improve sleep behavior also affects subjects' weight or blood sugar levels.

Stress and mental illness cause insomnia
Sleep research has long been concerned with the increasingly common sleep disorders. According to experts, these should be medically examined if they last longer than a month at the most, occur at least three times a week or interfere with their job. Chronic insomnia not only triggers concentration problems, but can also promote the onset of diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease such as heart attack, gastrointestinal disorders and mental illnesses such as depression. The most common causes of sleep disorders are mental ailments and stress, followed by pain and noise. (Sb)