Scientists draw link between sleep and diabetes

Scientists have found a link between the amount of time people spend in bed asleep and diabetes.

According to research carried out at the Columbia University in New York, those participants who slept for five or fewer hours or nine or more hours were more likely to have incident diabetes in the period following the experiment, oneindia reports.

Alcohol consumption, physical activity, age, obesity and other variants were all taken into account.

It is though that sleep deprivation could decrease glucose tolerance and compromise insulin sensitivity.

James E Gangwisch PhD, an author of the study, said: "If short sleep duration functions to increase insulin resistance and decrease glucose tolerance, then interventions that increase the amount and improve the quality of sleep could potentially serve as treatments and as primary preventative measures for diabetes."

Last week it was announced at a conference held by the America Association for Cancer that a combination of plenty of sleep and exercise may help to reduce the risk of cancer in women.

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