This
weekend, we shall take a look at the relationship that exists between Diabetes
and sleep.
The
awareness programmes carried out by various groups working in Diabetes must be
appreciated and commended and I will like to further call on the Government to
provide support to champion this noble initiative of reducing the prevalence
rate of diabetes in our dear Country Nigeria.
Sleep can be
defined as a state of natural physiological narcosis, a condition second to
death. It is a natural process that the Lord almighty introduced to calm the
system of a living being, however, a situation exists whereby people tend to
work towards cheating nature by avoiding sleep. For you reading this article,
you may have avoided sleep sometimes in your life either by refusing to sleep
or use of certain enhancers or teas, the reality is what extent of damage are
you causing the body when you avoid sleep and how much have you invited
diabetes with your actions?
Diabetes is
a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by increased blood sugars. The lack
of insulin or insulin resistance is capable of causing this abnormally.
Research has shown that lack of sleep leads to insulin resistance, which is one
of the primary factors for weight gain because it implies the body requires
more insulin to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and the resultant effect
will be increase in weight gain due to insulin’s fat storing capabilities.
It’s been
observed that just four days in a row of inadequate sleep can make the fat
cells in the abdominal area insulin resistant and reduced total body insulin
sensitivity, all these points to the results of several research that shows
consistent sleep deprivation leads to weight gain.
HOW DOES LACK OF SLEEP
AFFECT BLOOD SUGARS?
From our discussion in the previous paragraphs, lack of sleep
leads to insulin resistance which results in increase in blood sugar levels due
to the body being insensitive to the actions of glucose regulatory hormone like
insulin and this result from over production of a hormone called Cortisol. The
body of a healthy human produces about 25mg of cortisol daily but under any
kind of stress, the body will produce more in an effort to reduce inflammation
in the body and the buildup of cortisol leads to insulin resistance and
abnormal blood sugar levels especially in people living with Diabetes.
THE BENEFITS OF GETTING
ENOUGH SLEEP
For a person who is
staying up too late and require to get up earlier than he would naturally like
to, it’s important to know that the body responds by building up the level of
cortisol which in the long run would lead to insulin resistance, a precursor in
developing type 2 diabetes. It is therefore advisable to start going to bed on
time, watch less T.V at night and build a habit of going to bed at least 2
hours earlier than usual. Also staying up late often leads to overeating. For
parents with school age children, it is good to inculcate the habit of going to
bed early enough to help the child develop well and avoid building up high
levels of cortisol which can predispose the child to type 2 diabetes resulting
from insulin resistance.
Until I come your way next week with other interesting
article, I urge you to get in touch with me with your comments and contributions
and endeavor to get enough sleep to keep healthy.
Sleep is good for the Body’s
metabolic system
