We all like to sleep, although some more than others, of course. Now, a new study has brought to the table the evidence that prolonged sleep over the weekend can help reduce the risk of diabetes . The research has been carried out by scientists from the University of Chicago (USA).
That we have an hour or two to go during the week and that we make up those hours of sleep during the weekend is not an unusual sleep pattern in today’s society; something like, “catch up on sleep hours” taking advantage of the fact that on Saturday and Sunday we can sleep soundly. Well, the University of Chicago study has recognized that these weekend overtime hours have important implications for anyone who may be on the brink of diabetes.
Diabetes is a complex disease. Previous studies, such as the one published in the journal Diabetes Care , have already shown that sleeping between 7 and 8 hours a day reduced the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes and that sleeping less than these hours was associated with a significant increase in risk.
In the present study, the experts altered the sleep schedules of 19 healthy male volunteers. First, they were able to sleep for 8.5 hours for 4 nights. Then they were only able to sleep 4.5 hours for the next 4 nights. Then, for the next two nights, the volunteers got as much sleep as they wanted: the average was 9.7 hours per night. Insulin control was the common factor in all sessions of the experiment.
The results of this predictor of diabetes risk (insulin) revealed that after the first four nights of sleep deprivation, insulin sensitivity was reduced by 23% and their risk of diabetes increased by 16% . However, after two nights of prolonged sleep, both parameters returned to normal.
“ The metabolic response to this additional sleep was very interesting and encouraging. This shows that young, healthy people who sporadically do not get enough sleep during the work week can reduce their risk of diabetes if they catch up on sleep over the weekend, ”explains Esdras Tasali, leader of the study.
