Swedish researchers found that men who have sleep difficulties or a short sleep duration have an increased incidence of diabetes, according to a new study in the November issue of journal Diabetes Care.
Researchers from University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden and Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, Sweden investigated the possible relationship among sleep complaints, sleep duration and the development of diabetes prospectively over a 12-year period in a middle-aged Swedish population.
Interestingly, the team found that the risk of getting diabetes was nearly three-fold higher for men who got no more than 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night and nearly five times higher for men with difficulties maintaining sleep.
But, in women, their sleep patterns didn’t seem to bear a relationship to whether or not they got diabetes.
As Reuters reports, the researchers believe that lack of sleep might lead to diabetes because poor sleep is related to activation of the stress system or becuase sleep debt may impact carbohydrate metabolism.
Interesting. What I find curious is that this study, from what I’ve read, didn’t even take into account what people eat.
In fact, many people have difficulties sleeping after over-consuming simple carbs. If you eat too much carb crap and then don’t get enough sleep, wouldn’t this have a bearing on whether or not you get diabetes?
What fascinates me is that women’s lack of sleep doesn’t seem to affect whether or not they get diabetes. Hmm.