Sleep issues are linked to type 2 diabetes risk: Study

Researchers from the University of South Australia are urging people to prioritise getting a good night’s sleep as the Christmas season gets underway since recent findings suggest that sleep problems may be linked to type 2 diabetes risk factors.

In the first study of its kind, researchers discovered that persons with sleep issues were generally more likely to have inflammatory markers, high cholesterol, and body weight, all of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Nearly a million persons in Australia have type 2 diabetes. More than 422 million individuals throughout the world have type 2 diabetes.

“Everyone knows that sleep is important. But when we think about sleep, we mainly focus on how many hours of sleep we get, when we should also be looking at our sleep experience as a whole,” Dr Matricciani says.
“How soundly we sleep, when we go to bed and get up, and how regular our sleep habits are, may be just as important as sleep duration.”
“In this study, we examined the association of different aspects of sleep, and risk factors for diabetes, and found a connection between those who had troubled sleep and those who were at risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Different facets of sleep are connected to diabetes risk factors, according to Dr. Lisa Matricciani of the University of South Australia.

“People who reported having trouble sleeping were also more likely to have a higher body mass index, as well as blood markers of cholesterol and inflammation,” Dr Matricciani says.
He added, “When it comes down to the crunch, we know we must prioritise our sleep to help stay in good health. More research is needed, but as this study shows, it’s important to think about sleep as a whole, not just as one aspect.”

More than 1,000 Australian individuals with a median age of 44.8 years were evaluated for the study. Self-reported difficulty sleeping, duration, timing, efficiency, and day-to-day variations in sleep length were all factors that researchers looked at.