New research investigates the link between sleep duration and risk markers
for type 2 diabetes in children.
Could
as little as 1 hour of sleep influence children's risk of developing type 2
diabetes? A new study suggests so.
In the United States, 1 in 3 people are
estimated to develop type 2 diabetes at one point in their lifetime.
The disease affects men and women of
all ages, but according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), over 5,000 young people are diagnosed with type 2
diabetes every year.
Researchers from St. George's,
University of London in the United Kingdom set out to examine the potential
link between sleep duration and type 2 diabetes risk in children.
The team was led by St. George's
professor Christopher G. Owen, and the findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.
As the authors of the new research
explain, the possible associations between the length of sleep and the risk
markers for type 2 diabetes have not been sufficiently studied.
Studying sleep
duration and diabetes risk
Prof. Owen and colleagues examined
4,525 multiethnic children aged between 9 and 10 years, all of whom were living
in the U.K.
They took the children's body
measurements, including height, weight, blood pressure, and bioimpedance - a
measure of how well the body resists electric current, which gives insights
into body composition.
The researchers took blood samples and
tested the children's predisposition to type 2 diabetes using a plasma glucose
test.
The scientists also tested the
children's levels of lipids, insulin, and the hemoglobin HbA1c, among others.
Insulin is the hormone that regulates
blood sugar. An imbalance in the body's lipids - or body fat - is thought to be
involved in cardiovascular complications for people with type 2 diabetes.
Finally, HbA1c has been shown to be a marker of such lipid impairment.
Sleep duration was calculated using the
information provided by the children. They reported on the time they typically
go to bed and the time they wake up on a school day. The researchers confirmed
this information in a subgroup of children, using an accelerometer-based sleep
tracker.
Prof. Owen and team fed the body
measurements, as well as the cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk markers,
into multilevel linear regression models, adjusting for possible confounders
such as sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and the effect their
schools might have on the results.
Just 1 hour less of
sleep raises risk
Overall, the children slept for 10.5
hours per night, on average. The study found no associations with
cardiovascular risk factors, such as the hemoglobin HbA1c.
However, the study did find that the
shorter the sleep duration, the higher the children's levels of body fat - an
association previous studies have also highlighted.
Additionally, the research uncovered a
similar inverse correlation between sleep duration and insulin levels, insulin
resistance, and blood sugar levels.
In fact, just 1 hour of less sleep
significantly increased type 2 diabetes risk factors, such as blood sugar and
insulin resistance.
"The finding of an inverse
association between sleep duration and T2D [type 2 diabetes] risk markers in
childhood is novel," the authors conclude. "Intervention studies are
needed to establish the causality of these associations, which could provide a
simple strategy for early T2D prevention."
Prof. Owen and colleagues also add that
increasing the mean sleep length during the weekday by as little as 30 minutes
could lead to a decrease in body mass index (BMI) of 0.1 kilograms per square
meter and a decrease in insulin resistance.
"These findings suggest increasing
sleep duration could offer a simple approach to reducing levels of body fat and
type 2 diabetes risk from early life [...]. Potential benefits associated with
increased sleep in childhood may have implications for health in
adulthood."
Prof. Cristopher G. Owen
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