Does Sleep Affect Your Diabetes?

Are you sleeping enough to keep your body going? Because good sleep quality is essential so that your body can function properly. Poor sleep habits can affect many things about your health-your weight, your immune system, and in fact, how well your brain performs.

But do you know sleep also plays a significant role in maintaining blood sugar levels (Glucose), which affects your chances of getting diabetes? Living with diabetes is challenging. Patients go through years of medication, insulin injections, and a whole range of restrictions on what they can and cannot eat in hopes of controlling their diabetes.

All this is complex enough without adding Sleep Apnea to the mix. So let’s get into the blog and learn more about sleep habits and diabetes, and how they revolve around each other.

Sleep Habits and habits

As all of us know that diet and obesity are significant contributors to the odds of having diabetes, sleep habits are also important. Probably because these factors can affect the way cells respond to insulin over time.

Other sleep disruptions and disorders also seem to raise a person’s odds of having diabetes. According to a study, people who sleep for less than 6 hours each night are more likely to have cells less sensitive to insulin or to have full-blown diabetes. This was proven to be true even after the researchers took other lifestyle habits into account.

Besides that, sleep disorders and disruptions such as sleep apnea also raise a person’s chances of diabetes. But you can get sleep checked; all you have to do is just book a home sleep test, and a sleep expert will help you determine your sleep situation. However, problems mostly come with a solution, and so has this one; let’s move towards the solution part of it.

What can you do to prevent the situation?

You can consider the following things to make your situation better:

• If you work at night or have rotating shifts: Try to maintain regular meal and sleep times, even on your days off, if you can. And get some exercise during your breaks, like short walks or stretches.
• If you’re too concerned about your blood sugar levels: Sleep is as essential as having a good diet and a good amount of workouts. Good sleep regularly will help your body a long way in maintaining insulin efficiently. Besides getting adequate sleep, avoid eating late at night and follow a healthy lifestyle to manage diabetes.

If you have diabetes: If your blood sugar level is too high in the morning, consult your doctor. People who have diabetes are more likely to have sleep apnea which affects the overall situation. Get your sleep apnea test at home, and if you are detected with one, you can treat it with a CPAP device, Bi-PAP machine, or you consider lifestyle changes too. Your doctor can also suggest a tweak to your diabetes and sleep medicines or your exercise routine.

Disclaimer: The facts and information contained in this article are obtained from reputed medical research organizations and do not necessarily reflect the opinions & beliefs of ResMed. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content is for informational purposes only and because each person is so unique, please consult a healthcare professional for any medical queries.