Thursday, July 17, 2014

DIABETES EDUCATION: DIABETES AND SLEEP ( 1)


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

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