By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
In our 24/7 world, who wants to make time for a good night’s sleep? Well, a study suggests we should. Peter Liu of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute thinks it could reduce the risk of diabetes.
Liu checked insulin sensitivity – the body’s ability to clear blood sugar from the bloodstream – in 19 non-diabetic men who got about six hours of sleep a night during the workweek but 10 hours on weekend nights.
“By extending sleep to 10 hours a night versus six hours a night over just three days, we were able to improve insulin sensitivity, which is a marker of diabetes.”
Liu says this means you should get enough sleep regularly – not just on weekends.
The study presented at an Endocrine Society meeting was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.