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Does lack of sleep affect diabetes | Diabetes and
Sleep
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For a healthy life, sleep is very important. It restores, regenerates and
builds. It also influences the hormones that regulate appetite, metabolism and body weight. So much
is the importance of sleep that latest studies have even linked diabetes with it. According to
these, lack of sleep can increase the chances of diabetes. It can also cause hardening of blood
vessels surrounding and supporting the muscle of the heart.For some people, sleep does not come as
naturally as it comes to most people. This has been observed especially in elderly people. They
find it difficult to go to sleep and when they do, they wake up frequently during the night. Sleep
deprivation does a lot of damage to the brain and leads to stress and anxiety. Sleeping problems
can be worsened by pain, sorrow, grief and stress. There are many effects of inadequate and irregular sleep. Some of them are:1. High blood pressure: During sleep,
blood pressure drops 10% to 20%. This is why continuous sleep deficit can lead to our daily
blood pressure and increase the workload of cardiovascular system. For a healthy blood pressure,
it is necessary to get at least six hours of sleep a day.
2. Pre stage of diabetes: It has been observed in many researches that lack of
sleep can trigger pre diabetes stage.
3. Depression: People who do not sleep properly, are more prone to depression
than those people who do get enough sleep every day. This may be because, sleeping refreshes the
mind and enables a person to better deal with all the stress and negative issues of life.
4. Heart problems: Proper sleep plays an important part in keeping our heart
healthy. Abnormal patterns of sleep such as snoring can affect the heart, causing heart disease or
stroke.
5. Lack of focus: A healthy mind cannot be achieved without a healthy sleep.
Those who have even an occasional sleepless night are less alert and energetic the following day.
Sleepless nights can also make you irritable and less focused.
6. Sleeping pill dependency: People who cannot sleep without taking sleeping
pills are exposing themselves to the risk of drug dependency, either psychologically or physically.
The more used to they get to a certain dose of sleeping pill, the less effective it becomes. So
that eventually they are forced to increase their dose because if they don’t, then they are unable
to sleep.
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The following measures are recommended to sleep
well
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All the above points reinforce the importance of sleep for us. Now, the question
is how to get good sleep? The following measures are recommended to sleep well:
1. Make sure that before going to bed you do not take any heavy meals.
2. The use of cola, coffee, alcohol, tobacco (cigarettes) and sugar should be
avoided completely or at least reduced during night.
3. Go to sleep only when you are feeling sleepy.
4. Follow a regular pattern of sleeping and waking up.
5. When lying on the bed, try to clear your mind of tension and worries and think
happy thoughts.
6. A hot glass of water with 10 ml of honey mixed in it can be drunk at bedtime
to cure insomnia.
7. Sleep quality can be improved with regular exercise.
8. Taking short naps during the day can help in avoiding stress related problems
like high blood pressure. They can also improve memory and work efficiency.
9. In order to get a good night’s sleep, try learning some relaxation
techniques.
10. Sleeping on your side or back is conducive to a good sleep. Avoid sleeping on
your stomach. Develop at least some of these habits and you will see that your sleep problems
have either gone away or diminished, leaving you fresh and healthy to face the next day!
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