Poor sleep and type 2 diabetes raises death risk

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Researchers who took nine years to conduct a study now say that lack of proper sleep and type 2 diabetes increase the risk of death. An adult should sleep for at least seven hours a night.

And many circumstances and conditions prevent many people not to achieve these number of hours. Some of these conditions and circumstances are due to health issues, social and economic factors. According to a study on sleeping patterns, people who have trouble sleeping are at a higher risk of dying earlier than those who get enough sleep. The researchers found that this risk is more aggravated among people with type 2 diabetes.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Surrey over a nine-year period, which involved more than 500,000 middle-aged people in the UK.

The study showed that patients with type 2 diabetes had a 70 per cent increased risk of mortality. This increased to nearly 90 per cent when diabetes was combined with frequent sleep problems.

“The link between the risk of death, diabetes, and sleep problems is particularly prominent among patients with type 2 diabetes. This means or suggests that management of diabetes should also extensively focus on sleep disorders as well”, says Malcolm Von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology at Surrey University in Britain and the researcher who led the team of scientists during the study.

The findings of the study were published in the journal “Sleep Research”. The study was concluded in 2023. From the results, Prof Schantz said people who are more likely to have frequent sleep disturbances are older and have a higher body mass index.

They are also more likely to be female than male, have a previous history with smoking, and are currently having depression and diabetes, notes Schantz.

Another researcher, who also took part in the study, Prof Kristen Knutson,n analysed the data and noted that other than early death, sleep deprivation was also associated with heart disease, obesity, depression, and cancer.

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In the study, Schantz and his team sought to distinguish between sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep deprivation.

Insomnia was classified as the inability to attain sleep despite having enough time to sleep. Deprivation, on the other hand, was classified as the deliberate lack of time to sleep. The researchers advised that people must ensure they attain enough sleep, which must be seven or more hours.

“One must force oneself to achieve enough night sleep. If you cannot achieve enough sleep of seven or more hours due to certain medical conditions. Medical attention should be sought urgently,” the scientists advised.