Dear all,
Sleep is a natural phenomenon yet so many people have so many challenges with it. Its really not about how many hours of sleep you get, although at times it is, rather it’s the quality of sleep. We have heard a lot about how sleep is good for you in general, but have you ever wondered how sleep affects your Diabetes Management?
Research has shown that getting good sleep has a positive effect of blood glucose control. According to an article published in sleepfoundation.org, little sleep or poor-quality sleep is directly associated with weight gain and an increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes purely through the effects on glucose metabolism.
How does sleep affect glucose metabolism?
The answer lies in the deep sleep stage whereby when one goes into deep sleep nervous activity slows down, your body uses less glucose, growth hormone levels go up and cortisol levels go down. This is important in glucose metabolism and it affects insulin sensitivity. Deprivation of sleep especially deep sleep lowers insulin sensitivity and therefore raises blood glucose.
Several studies whereby participants were deprived sleep woke up with higher fasting blood glucose levels compared to the control subjects.
Therefore, with the new normal in the pandemic, late nights binge watching Netflix etc, remember to at least ensure you get enough sleep for anything else but ensuring better
Diabetes Control.
Thank you.
Kind regards;
Dr.Salwa Shahbal,CEO DMC
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