Lack of sleep, body clock disruption leads to impaired insulin sensitivity says CU study

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uoca-los_1110415.php

Public Release: 5-Nov-2015
Lack of sleep, body clock disruption leads to impaired insulin sensitivity says CU study
University of Colorado at Boulder

A new study by the University of Colorado shows that the longer people are awake during the time their biological clock is telling them to sleep the worse their sensitivity to insulin, which is a precursor to diabetes.

The study showed that a disruption, or circadian misalignment of a person's internal clock induced by five-hour 'short-sleep' schedules, resulted in morning wakefulness during the biological night when melatonin levels were still high, said CU-Boulder Professor Kenneth Wright, lead study author. Melatonin is a sleep-promoting hormone produced naturally by the pineal gland and controlled by the brain's master clock, while insulin, produced in the pancreas, regulates blood sugar.

"We found the longer you are awake during the biological night, the worse your insulin sensitivity is," said Wright, who directs CU-Boulder's Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory. "This is important because impaired insulin sensitivity can lead to both pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes."

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