Lack of sleep could give you diabetes

Lack of sleep could give you diabetes (Getty Images)

Not many of us are aware, but lack of sleep can do a lot more damage than just make us chronically cranky — it could lead to a host of complications including high blood pressure, obesity and type-2 diabetes.

Research has shown that people who sleep less than five hours have more chances of having diabetes than those who get around seven to eight hours of shut-eye every night.

Dr Preeti Devnani, neurologist and sleep disorder specialist says, "Sleep duration has been linked to type-2 diabetes. This impact is observed even in individuals who are not clinically suffering from type-2 diabetes — both short sleepers (less than five hours of sleep per night) and long sleepers (more than nine hours of sleep per night) had impaired glucose tolerance with low insulin sensitivity index."

When people sleep less, their body produces appetite-stimulating hormones that make them overeat and binge on calories and carbs that pile up easily. Dr Vinay Kumar Agarwal, consultant physician and diabetologist adds, "Too little sleep can affect hormones and metabolism in a way that promotes diabetes. Sleep reduces levels of the hormone leptin, an appetite suppressant, while boosting levels of ghrelin an appetite stimulant. That is a poor combination that may prompt sleep deprived people to eat more."

Dr Roshani Gadge, consultant diabetologist says, "Adults who get less than the recommended amount of sleep may not have adequate control of normal sugar levels. The more sleep deprived you are, the harder it becomes to properly catch up on the time you've lost. Your body interprets the sleep deficit as a constant stressor, and the chance you'll get diabetes grows." Eventually, sleeplessness causes insulin-producing cells to stop working properly elevating the glucose levels and leaving you wide open to diabetes.

Dr Agarwal adds, "Chronic sleep deprivation may lead to elevated levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Elevated cortisol may, in turn, promote insulin resistance, wherein the body cannot use the hormone properly to help move glucose into cells for energy. If you already have type-2 DM, lack of sleep may worsen blood sugar levels."

People suffering from diabetes have insomnia and other sleep problems and in such patients, sleep scarcity poses grave danger — a few nights of poor quality sleep can push them over the edge, say experts.

PSST..Correcting your sleep duration may prove to play a vital role in the targeted prevention of diabetes