Harvard researchers: Irregular sleep patterns linked to diabetes

Getting the right amount of sleep is essential for good health. But if the duration of your nightly Z's varies significantly, you might be boosting your diabetes risk, suggests a Harvard-led study published online July 17, 2024, by Diabetes Care. Researchers asked more than 84,000 diabetes-free people (average age 62) to wear activity trackers for a week, and then followed their health for more than seven years. People whose sleep duration varied the most (fluctuating by more than an hour from night to night) had a 34% higher risk for diabetes, compared with people whose sleep duration was more consistent. The association was strongest among those who slept more than eight hours per night, on average. "However, the association was also present among those who slept seven to eight hours per night. This suggests that even for those who get enough sleep each night, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is still important," says Sina Kianersi, the lead author and a researcher at Harvard affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. The study doesn't prove that inconsistent sleep causes diabetes, but other studies have tied varying sleep duration to diabetes risk factors, including a big belly and high blood sugar, blood pressure, and triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood).

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