It is well known that working long hours and getting up early again the next morning - sleep deprivation on a daily basis - will increase a person's risk for diabetes. A new study appears to come to the rescue of such hard workers by suggesting that sleeping for extended hours over weekends may replenish the body and restore insulin levels to what they were before the period of sleep deprivation started, according to Reuters.
The study was lead and coordinated by Josaine Broussard of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The study involved 19 volunteers that served as subjects. They were lean of body and healthy males. However, they were only given healthy diets during the study and not allowed to overeat or indulge in any heavy foods that could raise their health-risk levels, according to Tech Times.
To begin with, all subjects spent the first four nights sleeping as they would on normal days - up to 8.5 hours of sleep during the night. Their insulin levels were measured and noted. Then the same subjects slept for 4.5 hours a night for the next four nights, thereby simulating a sleep-deprivation situation that is common in many of today's professions. Their insulin levels were measured at the conclusion of this period. Finally, the same subjects slept for 9.7 hours during two successive nights following the nights on which they were sleep deprived.
The contrast in the insulin level readings was significant. When the bodies had been deprived of normal sleep for 4 nights at a stretch, the body's insulin levels went off-balance. When the insulin levels were measured again after the bodies had rested for the extended sleeping hours (9.7 hours) during the last two nights, the bodies showed their normal (pre-sleep deprivation) insulin levels. It was as if the additional hours of sleep during the last two days (weekend) had restored the insulin balance in the body, according to AJMC (Managed Markets Network).
