Poor Sleep Can Lead to Weight Gain and Susceptibility to Diabetes Investigacion y Desarrollo
go to original January 6, 2015

Market research company GfK asked consumers around the world what activities they regularly engage in to maintain their physical health - and getting enough sleep topped eating healthy food, exercising, or taking vitamins. (GfK)

People who suffer breathing and heart rate abnormalities, called obstructive sleep apnea, are likely to develop diabetes, and the risk increases if they have a hereditary proclivity.

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which the airways become blocked and cause interruptions consecutive to inhaling for several seconds, usually the tongue prevents the passage of air and is needed to snore to wake up and breathe again; however, this does not mean that all the people who snore suffer this disorder.

A person with apnea and diabetes risk factors are likely to develop the condition, because the sleep disorder causes metabolic changes by increasing insulin resistance, the neurology specialists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Rossana Huerta Albarran, said.

The specialist also mentioned that poor sleep causes weight gain because the brain sends signals that generate an increase in appetite and the need to consume carbohydrates, this raises cholesterol levels due to metabolic changes that the body generates. If to that one adds that obese people are prone to diabetes, apnea plays a fundamental role.

This sleep disorder can not only cause diabetes, is also responsible for the increase of cholesterol, triglycerides and hypertension.

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