Falling asleep at your desk? Better watch for diabetes

Falling asleep at your desk? Better watch for diabetes


Your lunch break ended an hour ago, and now you’re fighting off slumber, trying to make it through the rest of the workday.

All you can think about is catching a long nap. If excessive daytime sleepiness is common for you, you may have a significantly higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, researchers from the University of Tokyo found in a recent meta-study.

The Tokyo researchers looked at the results of numerous studies on the topic and concluded that intense daily fatigue is associated with a 56 percent greater risk of Type 2 diabetes.

The meta-study results also showed that people who napped for an hour or more daily had a 46 percent higher risk. A bit of good news: shorter naps didn’t seem to influence risk at all.

What could be behind this correlation of daytime sleepiness and Type 2 diabetes?

One possibility is that people who are overly tired during the day may suffer from another condition, such as obesity, that can interfere with sleep and also contributes to development of the disease. Obese people also are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea, a condition that disrupts sleep, causing fatigue.

For anyone, lost sleep can contribute to a slew of nasty health woes, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, according to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.

An N-H-S web page reports that prolonged lack of sleep is linked to such problems as subpar immune function, chemical imbalances related to weight gain and an altered approach to glucose breakdown within the body.

So, if you’re tired all day, it’s time to evaluate why. Perhaps poor bedtime habits are to blame. Maybe you need to reduce caffeine intake. For the sake of your long-term health, this is not a problem to ignore.

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