Lack of sleep and type 2 Diabetes
Hi there!
Letâs talk about the correlation between the amount of sleep you get per night, and your metabolism!
The modern lifestyle of today, has created an exhausted, overworked, malnourished human beings out of most us, and by malnourishment I am not just taking about undernourished, but over nourished - which is a type of malnourishment as well!
We wake up not fully rested and we rush out the door, sometimes hungry and tired, just to reach our next destination: work, school, dropping off the kids, etc...etc...
It is recommended to get 6-9 hours of sleep per night, but how many people really hit this number? What I have found interesting, is the fact that NOT sleeping enough for 4 consecutive nights in a row, drops insulinâs sensitivity by 30%! đą
Lack of sleep is extremely harmful to your health, psyche and metabolism.
đđťThe number of hours per which you snooze off in to the land of dreams and restfulness matters, because lack of sleep:
1ď¸âŁ Changes fat cells
2ď¸âŁ Increases the risk for type 2 DM
3ď¸âŁ Increases the feeling of hunger late at night âŞď¸ which could lead to obesity and weigh gain! đ
There are a couple important hormones at play in this scenario: Ghrelin (aka the hunger hormone) and Leptin (aka the fullness hormone).
Let's imagine it is lunch time. You begin to get hungry, your tummy starts singing, and you start to salivate at the sight of food. This is when Ghrelin (hunger hormone) is being secreted. It isn't until you're slowly becoming full, that Leptin (your fullness hormone) starts to kick in. Hopefully the classic response to that is to stop eating!
Lack of sleep, increases the production of Ghrelin, and in response to that, your brain orders you to eat satisfying foods such as bread, white rice, doughnuts, and fried salty foods - usually well late at night, followed up by an alcoholic drink and other sugar sweetened beverages. (During these events, Leptin secretion is lower) All of these processed foods (and drinks), are high in glycemic index, calories, and sodium, which over time lead to a slower metabolism, AND weight gain, which then increases your risk for type 2 Diabetes.
đđť Various studies have confirmed that a lack of sleep, increases your appetite, but one that I particularly was interested in, focused on women.
A prospective study on 68,183 women for a period of 16 years, concluded that sleeping for 5 hours or less per night resulted in an average weight gain of 1.14 kg vs. those women who slept 7 hours or more. đ
(Patel, S. R., Malhotra, A., White, D. P., Gottlieb, D. J., & Hu, F. B. (2006). Association between Reduced Sleep and
Weight Gain in Women. American Journal of Epidemiology, 164(10), 947â954. http://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwj280)
TYPE 2 DIABETES!
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes and obesity is increasing worldwide, but particular here in the U.S. Is it our food? Our stress levels? The fact that we can not sleep enough? The fact that many of us stay up at night working, double shifts, trying to make ends meet? Or is it Aunt Debbie who passed her "fat genes" to us?
It is sadly all of those...lifestyle, diet, and even genetics. You can't do much about Aunt Debbie passing her genes to you, however you can manage a modified lifestyle, diet and stress levels and even diabetes (type 2).
The link between lack of sleep and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity:
Let's say you sleep about 8 hours (which is what's recommended). During the first 4 hours into the night, glucose metabolism is slower, mainly because the cerebral uptake of glucose is lower. During the second half of the night, glucose metabolism starts to increase, due to dominance of REM sleep, upon waking up.
A few studies have looked into the association between sleep and type 2 diabetes, like the Canadian cross-sectional study on adults, finding an increased risk of prevalent diabetes for those who reported sleeping less than 7 hours. These individuals had a higher insulin resistance index, as well as a higher fasting plasma glucose, and a higher fasting plasma insulin.
Another cross-sectional study found that poor sleep quality was linked to higher glucose and insulin levels, higher estimated insulin resistance, and higher BMI, body fat percentage and waist circumference.
So go ahead and sleep for 6-9 hours if possible. Sleeping has many more benefits, and if you're interested to read the previous blog post about that, please do so.
I will create another post on how to fall asleep naturally. So stay tuned. đâĽď¸ If you enjoyed this post, please share it amongst your friends.
