Longer sleep hours can reduce risk of diabetes in teens, study says Read it on Global News: Longer sleep hours can reduce risk of diabetes in teens, study says

TORONTO – Longer hours of sleep may improve insulin resistance and reduce the onset of diabetes in teenagers, according to a new study.

“High levels of insulin resistance can lead to the development of diabetes,” said lead author of the study Karen Matthews in a press release. “We found that if teens that normally get six hours of sleep per night get one extra hour of sleep, they would improve insulin resistance by 9 per cent.”

The study monitored the insulin resistance levels and the sleep duration of 245 healthy high school students. Participants kept a sleep log, provided a fasting blood draw and wore a wrist actigraph—a non-invasive method that measures physical activity—for one week during the school year. On average, sleep duration averaged about 6.4 hours per night over the week.
According to the study, higher insulin resistance is associated with shorter sleep duration—regardless of race, age, gender, waist circumference, and body mass index.

Appearing in this month’s issue of the journal SLEEP, the study also claims to be the first to show a relationship between shorter sleep and insulin resistance in healthy adolescents that is independent of obesity.

The Canadian Sleep Society recommends that most teens need an average of nine hours of sleep a night.

Global News has put together a list of tips that can help improve your sleep habits to get those much needed extra hours of rest.

Read it on Global News: Longer sleep hours can reduce risk of diabetes in teens, study says 

comment -  This is something for diabetic teenagers to take into consideration