Sleep Patterns May Affect Diabetes' Risk In Women

First Posted: Nov 05, 2015 12:42 AM EST
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Older women who increase their typical amount of sleep by more than two hours over a period of time may be at a greater risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that women in the study who added two or more hours per night to their sleep schedule had a 15 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

"Chronic short sleep duration and increases in sleep duration are associated with increased risk of diabetes. Decreases in sleep duration have modest, adverse associations with diet quality and physical activity, while increases in sleep duration have modest, adverse associations with weight gain. Ongoing trials will provide further insight as to whether changes in sleep duration influence energy balance," the study authors noted, in a news release.

During the study, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health examined close to 60,000  American women between the ages of 55 and 83. They reviewed data that recorded the participants' self-reported sleep duration, diet and physical activity every two to four years from 1986 to 2000. Then they looked for any connections between sleep changes and cases of type 2 diabetes diagnosed between 2000 and 2012. Just over 3,500 women were diagnosed with diabetes in that time period, according to the study authors. 

The study also showed that a chronically short sleep duration of less than 6 hours was linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, these findings were not statistically significant, researchers say. 

They also stressed that the findings do not suggest causation. For instance, some studies have shown that too much or too little sleep may contribute to poor eating and exercise habits, which could then increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.

The study is published in the journal Diabetologia.

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