Lack of Sleep Promotes Pre-diabetes

New research published  in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, provides evidence that lack of adequate  sleep disrupts fat metabolism and reduces the ability of insulin to regulate blood sugars. At a  population level this could mean that more people getting a better nights’ sleep could help counter the increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

Lack of sleep results in an elevation of the levels of free fatty acids in the blood, which is associated with a pre-diabetic condition. These fatty acid levels  do normally rise overnight and recede before morning, but with lack of sleep the elevated fatty acid levels remain elevated until about  9 a.m. This results in an impairment in the ability of insulin to regulate blood sugars.

“At the population level, multiple studies have reported connections between restricted sleep, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes,” said  Professor Esra Tasali, MD, of  the University of Chicago. “Experimental laboratory studies like ours, help us unravel the mechanisms that may be responsible.”

Lead researcher , Josiane Broussard, PhD, at Cedars-Sinai’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute in Los Angeles explains, “Curtailed sleep produced marked changes in the secretion of growth hormone and levels of noradrenaline — which increases circulating fatty acids. The result was a significant loss of the benefits of insulin… Insulin action in these healthy young men resembled what we typically see in early stages of diabetes.”

In summary, this report provides some more scientific evidence that getting  a good night’s sleep is essential for optimizing one’s health ,and reducing the chances for the development of many health problems.

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