losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep per day on weekdays can have long-term consequences for body weight and metabolism, a new study has claimed. “While previous studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with obesity and diabetes, we found that as little as 30 minutes a day sleep debt can have significant effects on obesity and insulin resistance,” said lead study author professor Shahrad Taheri, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
“Sleep loss is additive and can have metabolic consequences,” said Taheri. Because of social and work commitments, people often accumulate sleep debt during weekdays and make up for lost sleep over the weekend. But weekday sleep debt may lead to long-term metabolic disruption, which may promote the onset of, or exacerbate the progression of, type 2 diabetes mellitus. Taheri said, “Our findings suggest that avoiding sleep debt could have positive benefits for waistlines and metabolism and that incorporating sleep into lifestyle interventions for weight loss and diabetes might improve their success.”
Taheri and his colleagues recruited 522 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and randomised them into one of three groups — usual care, physical activity intervention and physical activity intervention. Participants completed seven day sleep diaries and calculated their sleep debt. At baseline, the researchers recorded their height and weight, measured their waist circumference and analysed their fasting blood samples for insulin sensitivity.