Diabetes Self-Management – September 2019

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Sleeping

with Diabetes

By David Spero, BSN, RN, and Robert Dinsmoor

W

hat self-management strategy
costs nothing, doesn’t hurt and
doesn’t make us give up things we like,
and yet most people don’t do enough?
We’re talking about sleep. Why is sleep
important, and how can we get more?
Research shows that inadequate
sleep (insomnia) contributes to dia-
betes, its complications, and early death.

A study at Penn State University found

that people who slept less than six hours

a night had 1.8 times higher risk of

dying from cardiovascular disease and

2.3 times the risk of death by stroke.

Many studies have found that even

one night of poor sleep increases insu-

lin resistance, and chronic poor sleep

increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Short sleep duration can increase levels

of the appetite-stimulating hormone

ghrelin, stimulate production of the

stress hormone cortisol, and decrease

glucose tolerance, all of which pro-

mote diabetes and weight gain.

Yet a Gallup poll in 2013 found

that 40% of Americans get less than

six hours sleep a night. The reasons

34 September/October 2019