Short sleep significantly increases the risk of disease – healing practice

When people do not get enough sleep daily, it is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing diabetes. Even a healthy diet cannot protect against this increased risk.

In a new study in which experts from Uppsala University Sweden investigated how diet and sleep duration are linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. The results were published in the journal in English.The JAMA Network is openTo read.

Prevent diabetes by getting enough sleep?

The team explains that understanding how sleep duration and diet are linked to diabetes risk is critical for diabetes prevention and overall health.

So the researchers tried to do this using data from 247,867 so-called participants UK Biobank To clarify. For this purpose, participants were initially divided into four groups with different sleep durations.

How long did the participants sleep?

The first group got a normal sleep duration of between seven and eight hours, while the participants in the second group slept six hours a day. The researchers reported that participants in the third group slept only five hours per day, while participants in the fourth group got a very short sleep duration of three to four hours per day.

Participants' diets were evaluated based on population-specific consumption of red meat, processed meat, fruits, vegetables, and fish. In this way, the experts were able to rate the participants' diets on a scale from zero (unhealthy diet) to five (healthiest diet).

According to the team, 3.2% of participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during medical follow-up.

Increased risk with poor sleep

After adjusting for potential confounding variables, the researchers found that daily sleep duration of five hours or less was associated with a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Participants who slept just five hours a day were 16% more likely to develop diabetes, and people who slept only three to four hours a day reported a 41% increased risk of diabetes compared to people who had a normal sleep duration.

Overall, participants with healthy eating habits were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes. However, the experts added that the association between short sleep duration and increased risk of type 2 diabetes also remained in these participants.

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Overall, according to the team, the findings suggest that people with habitually short sleep durations have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and that this association persists even if those affected eat a healthy diet.

The team believes that further longitudinal studies are now needed to verify the results of the current research. The researchers concluded that such studies should include repeated measurements of sleep with objective assessments as well as assessment of participants' eating habits. (like)