This is not the first time that the link between sleep and diabetes has been established by research.
In 2015, already, an American-Chinese meta-analysis published in the journal Diabetes Care had pooled data from more than 18 studies and confirmed that inadequate sleep duration (less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours per night) was linked to an increase 30% of the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with variations in sleep duration leading to a reduction in glucose tolerance over time.
In 2016, a study from Harvard University published in the journal Diabetologia analyzed the sleep habits of more than 130,000 women, initially healthy, for 10 years. During this period, 6,400 of them had developed type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for lifestyle factors, it appeared that women who had reported several sleep disorders (sleep disturbances, frequent snoring, duration sleep less than 6 hours per night and/or sleep apnea) had a four times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than others.
Furthermore, at the end of the 1990sthe Sleep Heart Health study, a large epidemiological study conducted in the United States over several years, was designed to examine the links between sleep quality and cardiovascular diseases, including diabetes. Based on more than 6,000 participants, the study notably demonstrated a link between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and diabetes: individuals with OSA have a higher prevalence of insulin resistance, because apnea disrupts metabolism.
Finally, in 2020the Rotterdam Study (conducted by the Erasmus medical center) demonstrated that poor quality sleep (punctuated by frequent awakenings or phases of insomnia) was linked to an increase in blood sugar and a greater likelihood of developing diabetes . The cause: oxidative stress and hormonal variations caused by fatigue lead to poorer assimilation of glucose by the body.
How does sleep affect blood sugar?
According to the various studies carried out on the subject, lack of sleep disrupts blood sugar regulation in several ways.
A study published in 2014 in The Lancet shows in particular that sleep deprivation reduces the body’s sensitivity to insulin, forcing the pancreas to produce more to manage the same amount of glucose in the blood. When this demand becomes chronic, the organ becomes exhausted, which increases the risk of developing insulin resistance, or even diabetes.
Furthermore, lack of sleep increases the production of cortisol, a stress hormone which, as it diffuses throughout the body, releases glucose into the blood to provide rapid energy, in order to counter fatigue. If it becomes chronic, this excessive release disrupts blood sugar levels. An American study published in 2010 precisely deciphers the mechanism. At the same time, lack of sleep stimulates the production of ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger, particularly for foods rich in sugar and carbohydrates, excessive consumption of which exposes you to the risk of diabetes.
Finally, lack of sleep contributes to the aging of cells, and impairs their ability to capture glucose, which ultimately leads to an increase in blood sugar levels even after balanced meals, and over a long period of time, which is not immediately compensated for. better nights sleep.
What are the concrete consequences for diabetes patients?
Berkeley’s work has enabled a new advance in understanding the mechanism at work in the link between blood sugar and sleep. The specific set of brain waves revealed now allows them to predict a patient’s blood sugar control over the next day, even after taking into account external factors, such as age, gender, duration or quality of sleep. “This particular coupling of brain waves to deep sleep turns out to be more predictive than the duration or efficiency of an individual’s sleep,” says Raphael Vallat, doctor of neuroscience and co-author of the study.
Related News :