People who do not get enough sleep have higher chances of developing diabetes, a recent study revealed.
Researchers from the University of Colorado found the link between the body's biological clock and its sensitivity to insulin. According to their findings, when one goes past bedtime for a long period and tries to eat in the morning, the body's ability to regulate blood sugar is impaired.
In a report issued in the journal Current Biology, researchers assessed 16 healthy women and men where the first group or half of the respondents slept for up to five hours a night for five days to reenact a regular work week. They then slept for up to nine hours a night for the same amount of days.
Meanwhile, the second group which consists of the other half of the respondents accomplished the sleeping conditions in a reverse order.
The respondents underwent blood tests. The results showed that the first group who first slept for five hours a night had reduced sensitivity to insulin, which could trigger the onset of diabetes. When they slept for nine hours a night, their insulin sensitivity went back to normal.
However, it was still not enough to restore insulin sensitivity to baseline levels, researchers said.
Robert Ecket, one of the authors of the study, said that they conducted a research in 2014 about the links of insufficient sleep to weight gain, and now they found the former's link to diabetes. He said the exact mechanisms of the link are still unknown, but lack of sleep clearly causes metabolic stress.
"We have a clock in our brain which controls 24-hour patterns in our physiology and behavior," said Professor Kenneth Wright, Ecket's co-author.
Wright said that our internal clock signals the release of melatonin levels in the body which enables us to feel sleepy at night. When people eat instead of going to sleep, however, it changes the way the body responds to food. In the end, it will damage insulin sensitivity, he said.
Wright explained that our body releases more insulin to keep levels of blood sugar in a normal state. The body can initially adapt to changes in sleep patterns and insulin sensitivity, but in the long-term, the body may not be able to sustain it, he added.
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