- Individuals with sleep durations of five or fewer hours per day could have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Researchers also reported that eating a healthy diet did not lower the risk of type 2 diabetes from insufficient sleep.
- However, they added that daily exercise might decrease the risk of diabetes and offset the results of insufficient sleep.
People who regularly sleep five hours or less per night are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, regardless of their diet, according to a
Researchers used data from 247,867 participants between the ages of 38 and 71, with a mean age of almost 56, from the UK Biobank to examine the connection between sleep patterns, eating habits, and type 2 diabetes.
Participants completed an electronic questionnaire asking, “About how many hours of sleep do you get every 24 hours, including naps?” They also answered questions about their diet.
The scientists grouped the participants into one of four categories of daily sleep duration:
- 7-8 hours – normal
- 6 hours – mildly short
- 5 hours – moderately short
- 3-4 hours – extremely short
About 75% of participants reported normal sleep duration; nearly 20% reported mildly short duration, almost 4% reported moderately short, and less than 1% reported extremely short sleep duration.
Scores for diet ranged from 0 (unhealthy) to 5 (healthy). Participants’ scores were:
- 1% scored 0
- 7% scored 1
- 17% scored 2
- 27% scored 3
- 29% scored 4
- 17% scored 5
The researchers noted that prolonged periods of insufficient sleep can contribute to various health problems, including an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Indeed, they found that people sleeping 5 hours or less per day had a higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those with a normal sleep duration.
The average follow-up period for the study was 12 years. During this time, 3% (7,905) of participants developed type 2 diabetes.
The scientists indicated that increasing daily sleep…
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