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Anyone on the lookout for affordable diabetes insurance may want to think about getting to bed earlier.

Researchers have found that a lack of deep sleep could increase the risk of developing type-two diabetes.

Working at the University of Chicago, the scientists surmised that suppression of deep sleep – also known as slow-wave sleep – in healthy young adults "significantly decreased" their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels.

Following three nights of selective slow-wave sleep suppression, participants grew less sensitive to insulin and although they needed more insulin to dispose of the same amount of glucose, their insulin secretion did not increase to compensate.

According to the research team, this resulted in reduced glucose tolerance and increased risk of type-two diabetes.

Senior author Dr Eve Cauter remarked: "Since reduced amounts of deep sleep are typical of ageing and of common obesity-related sleep disorders, these results suggest that strategies to improve sleep quality, as well as quantity, may help to prevent or delay the onset of type-two diabetes in populations at risk."

Last year, the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association concluded that type-two diabetes is often diagnosed too late, with complications arising from the condition frequently only detected at the time of diagnosis.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Diabetes, Obesity.