Lack of sleep increases diabetes risk

Short nights have more serious consequences than just feeling tired. People who sleep too little have a higher risk of developing diabetes. This was discovered by scientists at the Columbia University in New York. They investigated the development of diabetes over a period of 10 years. People who slept on average 5 hours or less per night developed diabetes more often than people who slept 7 hours on average.

Lack of sleep reduces the sensitivity of the body to the hormone insulin, say the researchers. Insulin removes glucose from the blood. Also lack of sleep causes the body to make more of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol raises the glucose level in the blood in such a way that a normal amount of insulin is not enough to remove the glucose from the blood. Because of this people develop type 2 diabetes. Remarkably people who stayed in bed 9 hours or more also had an increased chance of diabetes.

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