How sleep affects people with diabetes...
Did you know that not getting enough sleep at night could interfere with managing your diabetes and cause insulin resistance? (Your bodies’ resistance to using insulin hence will increase blood sugar.)
Are you hindering your weight loss efforts by not getting enough sleep? Have you heard by getting enough sleep; it can help you lose weight? This sounds terrific. Let’s look more in to why this is.
Sleep is so important to our overall health. We heal our body when we are sleep and many critical restorative functions in the body are done when we are asleep. For example, tissue repair and muscle growth occur when we are asleep. The National Sleep Foundation said sleep “is as important as diet and exercise.”
Despite the benefits of getting enough “shut eye”, Forty-two percent of U.S. adults report getting less than seven hours of sleep on a typical night, the minimum number of hours recommended by the National Sleep Foundation for those aged 18 and older. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “adults need 7 or more hours of sleep per night for the best health and wellbeing. Short sleep duration is defined as less than 7 hours of sleep per 24-hour period. “Of course, this varies among individuals, but the aim is to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.
In regard to Diabetes, even though sleep is very important for everyone, a “large body of epidemiologic evidence has linked insufficient sleep duration and quality to the risk of obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29510179
An excellent article on sleep from Adam Brown of Diatribe said, “less than seven hours of sleep makes every facet of diabetes management harder.” Why make things harder? Do what you must to get the necessary sleep.
https://diatribe.org/most-destructive-diabetes-landmine-lack-sleep
Article from MD with the tittle, “Sleep more, Weigh Less”. Started article by saying, “While you weren’t sleeping, your body cooked up a perfect recipe for weight gain.” University of Chicago research reports within 4 days of insufficient sleep your body’s ability to process insulin goes “awry”. Insulin sensitivity dropped by more than 30%. So it sounds like trying to manage blood sugars are like “going against the stream.”
https://www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss#
Lack of sleep has a spiraling effect………..
Your appetite increases due to hormones that regulate appetite. Lack of sleep decreases ghrelin (hormone that helps you feel satiated) and increases leptin (hormone that increases hunger). Because you are sleep deprived you are less likely to control portions and binges. Resisting temptations is more difficult. Also, your body cells are less resistant to insulin and blood sugar remains in the blood and your body makes more insulin to compensate which then if the insulin is not used it stores fat. On top of that you are too tired to exercise!
What to do?
Make sleep a priority. “While there are many causes of Americans' sleepless nights, research from the National Sleep Foundation suggests that a big one is simply that Americans don't consider sleep a priority. When asked which of five items were most important to them personally, just 10% of respondents said sleep—far less than cited fitness/nutrition, work, and hobbies.” https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2019/01/28/sleep
Practice good sleep hygiene such as:
Create a bedtime ritual (warm bath, meditate of read)
Shut off cell phone, computer and tv an hour before bedtime.
Go to bed and wake up about the same time each day, even on weekends.
Avoid caffeine at least 6 hours before your bedtime. Caffeine can stay in the body for 5-6 hours.
Turn off lights so your body can release the sleep hormone melatonin. Light suppresses melatonin.
Contact your MD. Ideally to practice good sleep habits but if despite that you are not able to sleep, contact your primary care provider. There are many reasons why a person may not be getting enough restful sleep- pain, sleep apnea, increased urination at bedtime.
A suggestion is if unable to get the required sleep a night notify the doctor and make sure you do at least a 10-day diary of what your sleep habits have been. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/cant_sleep.html
******Bottom line: Make getting at least 7 hours of sleep a priority to help with management of blood sugar and to help with weight loss!