Irregular sleep may increase diabetes risk by 34%: new study

This could be a red flag for people whose sleep patterns vary from night to night.

A new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston links very irregular sleep patterns to a 34 percent higher risk of diabetes than regular sleep.

“Our findings highlight the importance of consistent sleep patterns as a strategy to reduce type 2 diabetes,” said lead author Sina Kianersi, a researcher in the Channing Division of Network Medicine.

Type 2 diabetes is among the top 10 causes of death and disability worldwide. The number of people living with this chronic disease worldwide is set to more than double to 1.3 billion by 2050.

For the study, more than 84,000 UK residents wore accelerometers (watch-like devices that monitor movement) for seven nights.

Participants were on average 62 years old and did not initially have diabetes.

The researchers followed the volunteers for about 7.5 years, tracking the progress of their diabetes primarily through their medical records.

They found that people whose sleep duration varied by more than an hour from night to night had a 34% increased risk of diabetes.

The association between irregular sleep and diabetes was more pronounced in people who slept longer and had a lower genetic risk of developing the disease.

The results were published Wednesday in Diabetes Care.

It has long been recognized that lack of sleep is a major risk factor for diabetes. Sleep is important for blood sugar control, and high blood sugar is a hallmark of diabetes.

A study in March found that people who sleep less than six hours a day have a “significantly increased risk” of developing the disorder compared to those who sleep seven to eight hours.

Kianersi’s team acknowledged some limitations to their study, including that information about participants’ lifestyles was collected up to five years before the accelerometer research began. Additionally, the seven-day sleep assessment does not account for long-term sleep habits.

Since the study volunteers were mostly elderly, healthy, and white, the researchers plan to test their theory on younger people and people of different racial backgrounds.

“Our results have the potential to improve diabetes prevention at multiple levels,” Kianersi said.

“Clinically, these data could help improve patient care and treatment plans. Public health recommendations could support regular sleep patterns,” he continued. “However, further research is needed to fully understand the mechanism and confirm the findings in other populations.”