Can missing just 1 hour of sleep a night increase blood sugar?

For people at high risk or already with type 2 diabetes, blood sugar control depends not only on diet and exercise but also on sleep. Lack of sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity, increase fasting and post-meal blood sugar.

Lack of sleep, even just 1 hour a night, can cause blood sugar to increase through the following effects:

Activating the stress response

Lack of sleep for just 1 hour/night can make blood sugar difficult to control in diabetics.

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Research in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that reducing sleep duration by about 60-90 minutes per night for a week significantly increases fasting blood sugar and reduces insulin sensitivity, according to the health website Healthline (USA).

The cause is thought to be that lack of sleep increases sympathetic nervous system activity and increases the secretion of cortisol, a stress hormone that helps mobilize glucose from the liver into the blood.

Cortisol helps the body cope better with short-term stress. However, when maintained at high levels for a long time due to lack of sleep, it can easily cause insulin resistance, making it difficult for glucose to enter cells. If prolonged, people with this condition can easily have impaired glucose tolerance and progress to type 2 diabetes.

Circadian rhythm disorders

When sleep duration is shortened or out of sync with the biological clock, genes that regulate glucose metabolism in liver and muscle cells become out of sync with the biological clock. This significantly reduces the cells' ability to respond to insulin.

Specifically, lack of sleep disrupts the body's melatonin-cortisol cycle, leading to a significant reduction in insulin sensitivity after just a few nights of less than 6 hours of sleep. For people with diabetes, this can increase morning blood sugar, even without changing their diet.

Effects on pancreatic beta cells

Beta cells in the pancreas are responsible for insulin production. However, this process is highly dependent on cellular energy and mitochondrial activity. Chronic sleep deprivation causes oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in beta cells, resulting in a marked reduction in insulin secretion.

In addition, sleep deprivation also changes the expression of genes related to insulin synthesis such as INS and PDX1. As a result, the body does not respond enough to insulin to control glucose after meals.

Impact on eating behavior

Lack of sleep not only affects hormones and metabolism, but also changes eating behavior. When you sleep less than 6 hours a night, the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin increases, while the satiety hormone leptin decreases. As a result, sleep-deprived people tend to crave foods high in sugar and starch, increasing the risk of high blood sugar.

Improve sleep

To stabilize blood sugar, people need to get enough sleep. Adults should sleep 7-9 hours a night to maintain metabolic health. For people with diabetes, they need to pay attention not only to the quantity but also the quality of sleep, such as sleeping on time, avoiding coffee or alcohol close to bedtime, according to Healthline.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chi-thieu-ngu-1-gio-dem-cung-co-the-lam-tang-duong-huet-185251109215438594.htm