Sleep Hacks To Lower Your Blood Sugar
As a diabetic, you probably already know how important it is to eat right, exercise, and take your meds. Here’s something you may not know about controlling blood sugar: Sleep plays a vital role in maintaining normal blood sugar levels. Get less than six hours on most nights and you're three times more likely to have elevated blood sugar levels, according to research published in the Annals of Epidemiology. Even just one sleepless night can interfere with your body's ability to use insulin (and therefore regulate glucose), according to Dutch researchers. Too little sleep also leads to more weight gain: In a national survey of 87,000 people, one-third of participants who slept less than six hours were obese. And when researchers at Columbia University analyzed 20 years' worth of data on more than 68,000 women, they found that those who got five hours or less weighed about five pounds more and were 15% more likely to become obese than those who slept seven hours. Most adults need between seven and nine hours a night, yet one in five Americans regularly sleeps less than six hours, and nearly 70% of women report frequent sleep troubles, according to national polls. The best strategy to improve sleep, according to experts: Hit the sack and set your morning alarm for the same time every day (even on weekends)—maintaining a consistent sleep schedule keeps your biological clock in sync so you rest better. Here are 9 more tips to help you sleep well and stay healthy: Skip afternoon coffee breaks The caffeine from your favorite latte can stay in your system for about eight hours; even if you can fall asleep, you may not be resting soundly. Alcohol has the same effect: Though sipping a glass or two of red wine may make you drowsy, a few hours later, the alcohol levels in your Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Sleep: How High Blood Sugar Steals Sleep Time
It’s probably far from obvious, but your diabetes could be the reason that you’re having trouble sleeping. Type 2 diabetes affects nearly 30 million Americans—and the numbers are growing. Though most of us are aware that the disease has a serious impact on a person’s diet and blood sugar, fewer are familiar with the many related health woes that diabetes can cause—and how they can negatively impact sleep. Take a closer look at the surprisingly intricate relationship between diabetes and sleep—plus how people with the condition can get a better night’s rest. Diabetes and Sleep: A Vicious Cycle? The relationship between diabetes and sleep is complicated, and experts still have a lot to learn about how the whole thing works. What they do know? How much sleep you get could play a role in whether you develop type 2 diabetes in the first place. First, there’s the growing connection between sleep and obesity. Being overweight is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. (Believe it or not, up to 90% of people who are diagnosed with the disease are also obese.) What’s more, evidence shows that there are several ways that skimping on sleep could lead to weight gain: When you’re zonked, you don’t have the energy to exercise. Research suggests that people who stay up late spend more time sitting than people who wake up early. Feeling tired means you’re less likely to make healthy food choices, too. When you’re exhausted, pizza or takeout just feel easier (and more tempting) than a big kale salad. Staying up late means more time to eat. People who stay up into the wee hours at night have been found to eat 550 more calories than those who go to bed early. Lack of sleep messes with your hormones. Sleep deprivation causes your body to pump out more of the stre Continue reading >>
How Many Hours Of Sleep Do You Need To Lower Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes?
How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need to Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes? If you have pre-diabetes, how much you sleep might not seem like one of the things you have to worry about but researchers have found that perhaps, sleep should be a priority. They did a study to look at the link between sleep duration and the risk of progressing from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes in a group of young and middle-aged adults. To do this they conducted a cohort study involving 17,983 adultswho had gone through health check-up exams which included an assessment of how many hours a night they sleep and what their quality ofsleep was. The researchers explained in their study that they defined pre-diabetes by an A1c between5.7% and 6.4%. They defined diabetes by an A1c that was greater than 6.5% (48mmol/mol) or by the use of some type of diabetes medication. They used time-dependent analysis to find the link between sleep duration and the risk of moving onto type 2 diabetes. So How Do Hours of Sleep Relate to Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes? Those who said they slept 8 hours a night were 23 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who said they slept 7 hours per night. Thosewho said that they slept 6 hours per night were 44 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who slept 7 hours per night. Those who slept 5 hours or less per night were 68 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who slept 7 hours per night. This occurred even after the researchers adjusted for age, sex, study facility, education, family history of diabetes, symptoms of depression, smoking status, marital status, and shift work. The researchers concluded in their abstract that they, found an association between short sleep duration and the risk of progression to diab Continue reading >>
Late To Bed, Early To Rise: A Recipe For Diabetes
For most people, not getting enough sleep isn’t a big deal. So what if you aren’t as sharp as usual the next day, or feel a bit groggy? But sleeping poorly night after night—because you are trying to burn the candle at both ends or you work night or rotating shifts—has long-term health consequences. People who don’t average at least six hours of sleep a night are more likely to be overweight or develop various medical problems, including diabetes, as described earlier on the Harvard Health blog. Being overweight is a big risk factor for becoming diabetic. Researchers long thought that the poor eating habits that went along with poor sleep were at the root of sleep-related diabetes. With the help of 21 volunteers who lived in a sleep lab for almost six weeks, researchers from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital have shown that lack of sleep plays an even more complex and powerful role. Each of the volunteers followed a carefully scheduled daily program of eating, physical activity, and sleeping. They started out well rested, getting 10 hours of sleep a night for the first six nights. Over the next three weeks, they spent just 5.6 hours in bed each night, and it came later and later each day. The schedule was meant to mimic rotating shift work or extended jet lag. This sleep pattern completely threw off the body’s sleep-wake rhythm, which influences the daily rise and fall of body temperature and blood pressure, and the secretion of many hormones. During the three weeks of abnormal sleep, the participants’ bodies stopped releasing enough insulin after a meal. Muscles need this hormone to absorb sugar (glucose) from the bloodstream. As a result, their blood sugar levels went haywire. Some of the people had blood sugar levels high enough to have Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes And Sleep
IN BRIEF In people with type 1 diabetes, sleep may be disrupted as a result of both behavioral and physiological aspects of diabetes and its management. This sleep disruption may negatively affect disease progression and development of complications. This review highlights key research findings regarding sleep in people with type 1 diabetes. Recent research has increasingly identified sleep as a key process for the maintenance of good cardiovascular and metabolic health. Disturbed sleep patterns (i.e., restriction, deprivation, and fragmentation) in healthy young adults produce alterations in both metabolism and cardiovascular disease risk markers. Sleep restriction refers to reduced amount of total sleep (i.e., sleeping 5 hours instead of 8 hours); sleep deprivation refers to total sleep loss or prevention of sleep; and sleep fragmentation refers to sleep periods that are broken up by multiple awakenings throughout the night. Conditions that accompany type 1 diabetes (e.g., hyperglycemia, glucose variability, and hypoglycemia) may result in sleep disruption. Sleep disruption in people with type 1 diabetes may negatively affect disease progression and the development of complications. Thus, the purpose of this review is to summarize the relevant recent research on sleep in people with type 1 diabetes. Sleep Quality and Sleep Architecture (Structure of Sleep) Children (1) and adults (2) with type 1 diabetes subjectively report poorer sleep quality than healthy control subjects. Objective measures based on polysomnography (PSG) demonstrate that children with type 1 diabetes spend more time in stage 2 (lighter) sleep and less time in stage 3 (deep) sleep compared to healthy children (3). Young adults with type 1 diabetes also exhibit more stage 2 sleep and tend to have les Continue reading >>
Blood Sugar And Sleep Problems: How Blood Sugar Levels Impact Sleep
November is National Diabetes Month and Alaska Sleep Clinic is dedicating this month’s blog posts to raising awareness for diabetic complications and how they correlate with sleep disorders and overall tiredness. SLEEP PROBLEMS AND SNORING MAY PREDICT DIABETES Studies have shown that individuals who consistently have a bad night's sleep are more likely to develop conditions linked to diabetes and heart disease. Loud snoring sleepers (many of whom may have sleep apnea), compared to quiet sleepers, double (2x) their risks of developing certain types of metabolic syndrome(s); including diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure. This likelihood also increased dramatically to 80% in those who found it difficult to fall asleep and to 70% for those who woke up feeling not as refreshed. Blood Sugar and Sleep Problems Sleep can affect your blood sugar levels, and your blood glucose control can also affect your sleep. It’s a vicious cycle. As the amount of sleep decreases, blood sugar increases, escalating the issue. Lack of sleep has been shown to increase blood sugar levels and the risk of diabetic issues. Higher blood sugar means less long-lasting fat metabolism in the night and even less sleep. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine found that people who slept less than 6 hours a night had more blood sugar complications compared to those who received 8 hours of sleep. HIGH BLOOD SUGAR - HYPERGLYCEMIA Sleepless and restless nights hurt more than your mood and energy; it is a form of chronic stress on the body. When there is added stress on your body this results in having higher blood sugar levels. When researchers restricted people with type-1 diabetes to just 4 hours of sleep, their sensitivity to insulin was reduced by 20% compared to that after a full nig Continue reading >>
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Can Diabetes Affect Your Sleep Schedule?
Diabetes is a condition in which the body is unable to produce insulin properly. This causes excess levels of glucose in the blood. The most common types are type 1 and type 2 diabetes. If you have type 1, your pancreas doesn’t produce insulin, so you must take it on a daily basis. If you have type 2, your body can make some of its own insulin, but it’s often not enough. This means that your body can’t use the insulin correctly. Depending on how well you control your blood sugar, you may or may not experience symptoms. Short-term symptoms of high blood sugar can include frequent thirst or hunger, as well as frequent urination. It isn’t uncommon for these symptoms to have an impact on the way you sleep. Here’s what the research has to say. In one 2012 study, researchers examined the associations between sleep disturbance and diabetes. Sleep disturbance includes difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or sleeping too much. The study found a clear relationship between sleep disturbance and diabetes. The researchers say that sleep deprivation is a significant risk factor for diabetes, which can sometimes be controlled. Having diabetes doesn’t necessarily mean that your sleep will be impacted. It’s more a matter of what symptoms of diabetes you experience and how you manage them. Certain symptoms are more likely to cause issues when you’re trying to rest: High blood sugar levels can cause frequent urination. If your blood sugar is high at night, you could end up getting up frequently to use the bathroom. When your body has extra glucose, it draws water from your tissues. This can make you feel dehydrated, prompting you to get up for regular glasses of water. The symptoms of low blood sugar, such as shakiness, dizziness, and sweating, can affect your slee Continue reading >>
The Surprising Link Between Your Sleep And Gestational Diabetes
© Mosuno / Stocksy United Quick Read Not sleeping enough may contribute to gestational diabetes Gestational diabetes, elevated blood sugar levels during pregnancy, carries significant risks for both moms and babies. A new study shows that pregnant women who sleep less are more likely to have gestational diabetes. Sleep in pregnancy is challenging. Good eating habits, exercise and avoiding screen time before bedtime can all help, as can making sleep a priority. Pregnancy is hard work—and it’s definitely not always comfortable. The hours are long, you may have heartburn and hemorrhoids and be sick to your stomach. Meanwhile—surprise!—you’re getting bigger everywhere you look, sometimes even your feet. Your body is flooded with hormones. Add that to your changing emotional landscape and it’s no wonder you’re having trouble sleeping. Unfortunately, the results of a recent study suggest that pregnant women who sleep less than 6 hours and 15 minutes a night are almost three times more likely to have gestational diabetes as those who sleep more. What is gestational diabetes? Even if you’re a healthy mom-to-be doing everything right, you can still develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Like diabetes itself, gestational diabetes is elevated levels of blood sugar, specifically during pregnancy, says Vishesh Kapur, M.D., M.P.H., founder of the Sleep Medicine Center at Harborview. When you’re pregnant, you are at the mercy of your hormones. Progesterone, a hormone produced by your placenta, helps make sure that baby gets all the nutrients needed to grow, says Katherine McLean, M.D., an obstetrician at Meridian Women’s Health at Ballard. But it also raises the possibility of elevated blood sugars in mom. Why is gestational diabetes bad for baby? If you h Continue reading >>
Getting A Good Night’s Sleep With Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes and poor sleep are often common bedfellows. Learn how the two are connected and what you can do to get the rest you need. Thinkstock A good night’s sleep is important for everyone, but it’s especially important for people with type 2 diabetes. Getting enough sleep can help you control blood sugar levels, regulate the hormones that control appetite, increase insulin sensitivity, and improve your overall health. But type 2 diabetes and poor sleep often go hand in hand, because your risk for problems that interfere your ability to stay and fall asleep — such as sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome — increases if you have diabetes “Many people with diabetes will tell you that they don’t sleep well, but they haven’t made the connection that diabetes is playing a role,” says Jay Shubrook, DO, director of the clinical division of The Diabetes Institute at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and a diabetes specialist with Optimized Care Network. Most adults need about seven to nine hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation, but many don’t get that amount. Too little sleep is especially problematic. “When you’re sleep deprived, you have more ghrelin, the hormone that tells you when to eat, and less leptin, the hormone that tells you to stop eating,” says Michael J. Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, and author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health. “You’re also more likely to reach for cookies, cakes, pies, and other unhealthy choices, which can have negative effects on blood sugar.” In addition, when you’re tired, you’re also less likely to exercise and do other things that you know are good for you. “ Continue reading >>
Sleep For Diabetes
According to recent research, sleep is as important for health as diet and exercise. Lack of sleep raises blood sugars and insulin resistance. With enough sleep, our bodies can heal and repair. Without sleep, they get sicker. Poets have celebrated the importance of sleep for centuries. Shakespeare called it the “Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.” Now science is catching up. We’re finding that life is tough, and to function, our bodies and minds need rest. Sleep gives our brains time to learn. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, people remember a day or a lesson better if they have a good night’s sleep. Sleep gives our bodies time to repair. Our immune systems can work better when our muscles, brains, and digestive system aren’t competing with them for resources. So if your blood vessels or your heart or kidneys need healing (which is the case for many of us), you need to sleep. Sleep deprivation is associated with raised levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol triggers insulin resistance. Sleep deprivation also lowers levels of the “I’m OK” hormone leptin, which controls appetite. It raises levels of the “eat more” hormone ghrelin. So less sleep leads to more eating and probable weight gain. Sleep gives us a break from endless mental stress. From a spiritual point of view, sleep may be like meditation — it’s a time when our minds can be free of the world’s stresses and our own craziness. Then we can see life and our place in it better. Studies show that people who get enough sleep can concentrate and focus longer and more effectively. They tend to be more creative and better problem solvers. With Type 2 diabetes, lack of sleep is a strong predictor for getting Continue reading >>
Link Between Sleep & Diabetes: Everything You Need To Know
According to National Sleep Foundation, 63% of American population do not get enough daily sleep. Do you also know that most people who suffer from diabetes often have poor sleeping habits? This includes irregular sleeping schedule, difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. And although little has been mentioned about caregivers and parents of diabetes patients, they are more likely to acquire poor sleeping habits and have a higher tendency to suffer from sleeping problems and consequently develop Type 2 diabetes themselves. So if you have diabetes or are currently caring for someone who has diabetes, this article will educate you more about how sleeping disorders can affect your health and how you can get better sleep. This article will cover the following topics: Relationship Between Sleep and Diabetes Your health and sleep go hand in hand. When you do not sleep enough, your body does not get the needed time to repair. As a result, you tend to be unfocused and irritable, and you suddenly have the urge to eat. If this scenario sounds too familiar to you, maybe you should rethink about the relationship between sleep and your diabetes. The Missing Link — Hormones Sleep plays a crucial role in restoring our body cells. Under healthy conditions, after eating, the pancreas secretes insulin to signal fat cells and muscles to absorb the glucose from food to be used for energy creation and prevents the body from using fat as energy source. This chain of reaction causes the blood glucose levels to resume normal. And to prevent the individual from feeling hungry, the body produces the hormone leptin to depresses the appetite. However, when it comes to diabetes individuals, the muscle and fat cells fails to respond to insulin. This causes a high glucose level in the bloodst Continue reading >>
Type 2 Diabetes: Why Sleep Quality Matters
Type 2 Diabetes: Why Sleep Quality Matters A good nights sleep can help manage blood sugar, blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Heres how to get high-quality sleep. Medically Reviewed by Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD Sign Up for Our Living with Diabetes Newsletter Sign up for more FREE Everyday Health newsletters . Most people with type 2 diabetes know that making certain daily lifestyle choices such as eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise are essential to managing the condition. But what about getting good sleep? Experts say that quality sleep is just as essential, and that poor sleep negatively affects many health issues related to type 2 diabetes , including blood sugar levels, according to a consensus statement issued by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and published in January 2017 in the journal Endocrine Practice . Poor sleep is very common with type 2 diabetes, says Daniel Einhorn, MD , a clinical endocrinologist, medical director of the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute in San Diego, and past president of the AACE. This can have an adverse effect on all aspects of [the condition]. Both the quality and quantity of sleep matter when it comes to type 2 diabetes. According to multiple studies over the past two decades, poor sleep can disrupt a number of factors related to type 2 diabetes, including: Sleep deprivation affects the bodys ability to use glucose efficiently, which can increase the risk for type 2 diabetes. And people with sleep problems difficulty falling or staying asleep, sleeping fewer than 5 to 6 hours a night or more than 9 hours are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than sound sleepers are. Poor sleep is also associated with developing or worsening complications of type 2 diabetes , according to a Continue reading >>
Why You Need To Get More Sleep
A bad nights sleep can make you feel grumpy, groggy, and exhausted. But for people with diabetes, missing sleep may be more serious. Studies have shown that, in people with diabetes, overnight restlessness or substandard sleep can lead to higher glucose levels the next day. For the general population, poor sleep can lead to insulin resistance and a greater risk for type2 diabetes . Its clear that the quality of ones slumber plays a major role in blood glucose levels. Sleep problems are more prevalent in people with diabetes, says Timothy Morgenthaler, MD, immediate past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. People may get up to urinate multiple times due to high blood glucose or be awakened by symptoms of a low. Nighttime blood glucose checks are also disruptive. Whats more, two in three people with type2 diabetes have obstructive sleep apnea, the most common type of sleep disorder, says Eve Van Cauter, PhD, Frederick H. Rawson professor of medicine and director of the Sleep Metabolism and Health Center at the University of Chicago. Sleep apnea is a condition in which people intermittently stop and start breathing while theyre asleep. Heres what happens to your body when youre shorton shut-eye: Brain Fog: Your brain is a glucose guzzler, says Van Cauter. Outside of mealtimes, the brain consumes almost half of all glucose used by the body. Because the brain does not work efficiently after a poor nights sleep, it drinks up less glucose. The result: Youll have more trouble focusing the next day and will have higher blood glucose levels than you typically would after good-quality sleep. Hormone Shifts: Insufficient sleep, which is often interpreted by the body as a stressful situation, acti Continue reading >>
Managing Diabetes On Little Sleep: How To Keep Blood Sugar Controlled | Everyday Health
Sometimes its impossible to get at least seven hours of sleep per night, but insufficient zs dont have to derail your health goals when living with diabetes. A growing body of research suggests that getting enough quality sleep is one of the most important factors in our mental and physical health. In fact, you need sleep to live and yet so many people come up short, be it due to stress, lack of time, one of many sleep disorders, or other factors. So how much sleep do you need for optimal health? The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults ages 18 to 64 get seven to nine hours, while older adults ages 65 and older get seven to eight hours of snooze time. But one-third of Americans dont get enough sleep, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in February 2016 . Because insufficient sleep is so widespread, the CDC has declared it a public health problem , pointing to a lack of sleeps link to weight gain, heart disease, depression, and more. For people with type 2 diabetes or at risk for the disease , the consequences can be particularly dangerous. The Relationship Between Sleep and Diabetes Risk For one, shorting yourself on shut-eye raises your risk of type 2 diabetes. Compared with sleeping the minimum recommended seven hours, your odds for developing the disease rise by 9 percent for every hour of shut-eye that you cut, suggests a review published in March 2015 in Diabetes Care . Past research, the review points out, has shown that a lack of sleep may prompt the body to produce inadequate insulin and boost blood sugar, or glucose, production. While diabetes isnt caused by just one factor alone, the disease is marked by an excessive level of glucose due to insulin resistance , an issue that, when untreated, can lead to s Continue reading >>
Diabetes And The Importance Of Sleep
To paraphrase the old Cole Porter love song: Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Let's do it, let's . . . sleep? "Sleep is a biological imperative," says Stuart Quan, M.D., a Harvard Medical School professor of sleep medicine and editor of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. "You can't not sleep," he says. Virtually all animals sleep. Fruit flies have been shown to have sleep cycles, and even sea sponges have sleeplike periods, Quan says. While experts have different theories on why we sleep, it's well proven that getting too little has serious consequences for your health and diabetes. Shorting yourself on shut-eye can worsen diabetes and, for some people, even serve as the trigger that causes it. People who don't sleep enough may: -- impair the body's use of insulin. -- have higher levels of hormones that cause hunger. -- crave junk food. No snooze, you lose People who don't get enough sleep often have higher levels of chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. Lack of sleep also can increase production of cortisol (the body's primary stress hormone), impair memory and reflex time, elevate blood sugar, and increase appetite -- ultimately promoting weight gain, says Carol Touma, M.D., an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago who focuses on sleep research and metabolism. And the more you weigh, the worse you sleep. Research by Madhu H. Rao, M.D., an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, found that a person's body mass index (BMI) affects slow-wave sleep, the deep sleep cycles needed for maximum rest. Very preliminary results of Rao's current research on the effects of sleep restriction in healthy volunteers show an increase in insulin resistance in the range of 10 to 15 percent. But mysteries remain. Will sleeping m Continue reading >>
