Sleep and diabetes: new data

Just one sleepless night can affect the ability of the liver to synthesize glucose and work out insulin, which is fraught with serious metabolic disorders, such as liver steatosis and type II diabetes – these are the conclusions reached by scientists from the Higher Medical School of Toho University in their new study.

The aim of this work was to study glucose intolerance associated with lack of sleep and to identify the mechanisms responsible for its formation. The researchers paid special attention to liver function.

It is known that lack of sleep is associated with increased appetite, decreased physical activity and glucose intolerance. However, what exactly leads to metabolic disorders, lack of sleep or concomitant disorders of appetite and activity, is unclear. To understand this, scientists conducted a series of experiments on mice, which were divided into two groups.

Mice from the first group were not allowed to sleep for six hours at night, the researchers did not interfere with the night sleep of mice from the second group. All mice, regardless of the duration of their sleep, were offered unlimited amounts of water with sugar and food with a high fat content. Such a menu was supposed to imitate the eating habits of people leading a similar lifestyle. In addition, the scientists limited the opportunities for physical activity of the tested animals.

Visual results were obtained after the first sleepless night: the blood glucose level of mice from the first group was significantly higher than that of "sleepy" mice. Analysis of the liver of animals showed that the amount of fat and the level of glucose production also increased in mice who were not given enough sleep. In turn, this indicates the inability of the body to properly absorb insulin. In addition, the level of lipogenesis enzymes was increased in these mice.

All these data combined suggest that lack of sleep can lead to hepatic insulin resistance and liver steatosis due to increased production of lipogenesis enzymes.

Article by Shigiyama et al. Mechanisms of sleep deprivation-induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in mice in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Anastasia Poznyak, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru / based on EurekAlert: Losing just six hours of sleep could increase diabetes risk, study finds.