Poor sleep may trigger diabetes and obesity

Proper sleep is extremely essential for attaining healthy metabolism and any alteration in usual sleep time can result in serious health consequences like diabetes and obesity, a recent study has warned. "We should acknowledge the unforeseen importance of our 24-hour rhythms for health," said Claudia Coomans, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Molecular Cell Biology in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, Netherlands. "To quote Seneca 'We should live according to nature (secundum naturam vivere).'" To carry out the study, Coomans and colleagues exposed mice to constant light that ultimately led to abnormal internal clock function, thus degrading the their bodies' internal clocks and reached to a condition that is commonly observed on aging. As a result of this, the mice lost their 24-hour rhythm in energy metabolism and insulin sensitivity that indicated a mild impairment of clock function could result in severe metabolic consequences. "The good news is that some of us can 'sleep it off' to avoid obesity and diabetes," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "The bad news is that we can all get the metabolic doldrums when our normal day/night cycle is disrupted." From: News Track India