Health
Sleep duration may relate to diabetes
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 17, 2007
Sleep, whether too little or too much, may be linked to diabetes, according to a study in the Dec. 1 Sleep, the journal of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Researchers explored the relationship between sleep duration and the diagnosis of diabetes for nearly 9,000 participants in the Epidemiologic Follow-Up Studies of the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were 32 to 86 years old.
Those who reported sleeping five or fewer hours or nine or more hours per night were significantly more likely to have diabetes than were those who reported sleeping seven hours. While short sleep duration has been found to decrease glucose tolerance and compromise insulin sensitivity, thus establishing a link to diabetes, it is not known what role too much sleep may play.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/12/17/hlbf1217.htm.
