Underestimating the hours we sleep each night can be expensive . New research from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha, Qatar suggests that losing as little as half an hour of sleep can have long-term consequences for both body weight and metabolism. The study has been presented at the latest edition of ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society held in San Diego, California (USA).
For their study, the scientists involved 522 volunteers recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who took a blood test and took measurements of their height, weight and waist circumference. Likewise, during the 6 months that the first part of the experiment lasted, the participants began to write “sleep diaries” to calculate the “sleep debt” they incurred each week .
Examination of the data revealed that those who lost hours of sleep each day from Monday to Friday were 72% more likely to be obese , compared to those who slept the appropriate hours each day.
The experiment continued for a further 6 months. At 12 months of follow-up, the researchers calculated that for every 30 minutes of lack of sleep during the week, the risk of obesity increased by 17% and the risk of insulin resistance increased by a striking 39%.
“While previous studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with obesity and diabetes, we found that as little as 30 minutes a day of sleep debt can have significant effects on obesity and long-term insulin resistance. deadline, ”explains Shahrad Taheri, study leader.
