WHAT HAS SLEEP GOT TO DO WITH INSULIN?
WHAT HAS SLEEP GOT TO DO WITH DIABETES?
It’s been an interesting week in the bedroom… but not in a good way. It’s been a week of broken sleep, followed by alarm clocks ringing at dawn, and a body determined to pull up the duvet and keep on slumbering. Between cat fights, teenagers and the full moon, sleep deprivation has been the order of the day.
That’s why I was so interested to read a new study from the University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, looking at the effect of sleep deprivation on our health. In particular, the effect that not enough shut eye has on our body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels.
Here in New Zealand type II diabetes (once upon a time called “old age onset diabetes) is reaching epidemic proportions, and costing our country a fortune. Type II diabetes is now effecting children in their early teens, instead of the once usual old age onset. Experts tell us that this crippling disease is the result of obesity, lack of exercise and a poor diet. While all that remains true, this latest study got me wondering about the part played by poor sleep habits. Could it be that the modern phenomenon of staying up late into the night playing on computers, or watching TV, and the resulting chronic sleep deprivation, is partly driving our type II diabetes epidemic?
This form of diabetes occurs when our body is unable to effectively respond to the hormone insulin. Insulin is responsible for moving sugar out of our bloodstream and into our cells, thus regulating blood sugar. When we become resistant to the effects of insulin, sugar levels rise and wreak havoc with our eyes, blood vessels, kidneys and nerves.
This latest study found that even after one night of inadequate sleep (4 hours, instead of the ideal 8 hours), blood sugar regulation is markedly effected. Nine healthy people were examined, once after a good 8 hours of sleep, and once after only 4 hours of sleep. After the short nights sleep, the sensitivity to the blood sugar regulating effects of insulin was reduced by between 19 and 24%.
An American study published last year found that people who slept less than six hours a night were 4.5 times more likely to develop abnormal blood sugar readings, in the following six years, compared with those sleeping 8 hours a night regularly.
So, the obvious take home message… turn off the tv and computer, ignore the stack of work waiting to be done, and slide beneath the duvet on the right side of midnight.
Lynda Wharton is a Registered Acupuncturist and Naturopath, health researcher and writer with over 20 years experience. She is the author of three woman’s health books, the latest of which is “Wellbeing” published by Harper Collins, available online at www.lyndawharton.com