Ellie Kemp
Scientists have determined the exact amount of sleep you need to keep a common chronic illness at bay.
Whether you struggle to nod off or can fall asleep anywhere, getting enough shut-eye can be a major source of anxiety for some people, especially if you find yourself waking up at 3 am each morning for no particular reason.
But it might put your mind at rest to know you don't need as much sleep as you'd expect to cut your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
According to the CDC, more than 40 million Americans have diabetes, which works out at around one in eight people.
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Up to 95 percent of them have type 2, which, as the NHS explains, occurs when a hormone called insulin does not work properly, causing the level of sugar in your blood to become too high.
But, as a new study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of Open Diabetes Research and Care found, the optimal amount of sleep needed to regulate your blood sugar is seven hours, 19 minutes and 12 seconds.
The research collected data from 23,475 Americans by tracking their sleep and estimating their glucose disposal rate (eDGR), which gave an indication of their insulin resistance levels.
The eGDR was calculated by measuring waist circumference, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure.
Any more or less sleep impacted these levels, it was discovered.
Elsewhere, Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, told The Independent: “Poor sleep often leads to poorer appetite control so people tend to eat more, and less sleep means more time awake to be able to eat.”
It's also bad news if you're partial to a lie-in on the weekend; doing so if you're getting the optimal amount of sleep is actually linked to 'impaired glucose metabolism,' the BMJ adds.
For those getting less than the recommended seven hours, 19 minutes and 12 seconds of shut-eye, the few extra hours over the weekend actually did their glucose levels some good.
As the scientists explained: "‘[Extra sleep is] beneficial only in moderation and specifically for those with weekday sleep debt, whereas it may be detrimental for those who already sleep sufficiently.’
They added: “Importantly, there appears to be a bidirectional relationship between sleep and metabolism. For instance, poor glycemic status itself has been linked to a higher likelihood of both short and extended sleep durations, as well as sleep disorders."
This then creates a 'potential vicious cycle' where the metabolic dysregulation disrupts normal sleep patterns, and 'the resultant abnormal sleep (including extended duration) further aggravates metabolic health.'
The researchers cautioned that the study was 'observational' and 'no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.'
But they concluded: “These correlational findings suggest that sleep patterns, particularly weekend recovery sleep, may be relevant for metabolic regulation in diabetes and could inform considerations for healthcare professionals in managing patient care.”