‘Catching Up’ on Lost Sleep May Cut Diabetes Risk

The pattern of cutting back on sleep during the work week followed by catching up on sleep over the weekend is common and the new finding, published online in the journal Diabetes Care, could affect large numbers of people who work long hours.

However, the two nights of extended sleep returned their insulin sensitivity and diabetes risk to the levels achieved during normal sleep periods.

And there’s particularly good news for the typical Men’s Fitness reader: These results were seen in healthy, lean, young men who consumed a controlled diet. The men slept an average of 9.7 hours per night.

This is the ability of the body to use insulin to regulate blood sugar.

The tests revealed that insulin sensitivity and disposition index reduced by 23% and 16% respectively compared to normal levels subsequent to four days of less sleep. An earlier report showed a almost 20% increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes if a person sleeps for only 4-5 hours every night.

Though this new research was conducted on a markedly smaller participant group (19 volunteers, as opposed to 522), the researchers claim two consecutive nights of extended sleep (a.k.a. your Saturday and Sunday) can counteract the increased risk for diabetes associated with the short-term sleep restriction that plagues your work week.

The study doesn’t prove sleeping late every weekend can counter the ill effects of insufficient rest every other night of the week, Broussard cautioned.

“Though this is evidence that weekend catch-up sleep may help someone recover from a sleep-deprived week, this was not a long-term study and our subjects went through this process only once”, study author Josiane Broussard, PhD, said in a press release.

On top of diabetes, chronically sleep-deprived people are also more likely to develop other health problems, such high blood pressure, obesity and disrupted cognitive function advised the researchers. They also added the study volunteers ate a calorie-controlled diet, whereas sleep-deprived adults tend to overeat, preferring candies and high-fat foods. As you probably know from personal experience, not getting the proper seven hours of nightly zzzz’s leaves you feeling less alert and may make it hard to concentrate.

A recent, short-term study, performed at the University of Chicago sleep laboratory, showed that grabbing a few extra hours of shut-eye is more than a relaxing treat, it has important implications for anyone who might be on the verge of diabetes.

The impact of extra weekend sleep on these health issues remains to be determined.