The time spent sleeping has dropped significantly over the past twenty years. The average for an adult is 6.58 hours of sleep, but it usually takes 8 to be rested. This accumulated lack of sleep would not be without risk to health. Researchers at the University of Illinois in the United States have investigated the link between insufficient sleep and gestational diabetes. The results are published in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews.
Gestational diabetesis a disease that occurs most often in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. This is not a risk to be taken lightly since it affects between 4 and 8% of pregnant women. This disease can lead to premature labor, type 2 diabetes in the child and the mother, it can also cause respiratory distress in the baby and neonatal hypoglycemia.
Less sleep, more blood sugar?
The researchers analyzed 12 studies including 17,500 pregnant women who had been evaluated on the duration of their sleep, their blood sugar levels and their gestational diabetes. They found that an average of 6 hours of sleep was associated with a 2.3 times higher risk of developing gestational diabetes. Generally speaking, the blood sugar levels were higher.
Previous studies had already shown links between reduced sleep and increased risk of diabetes, but in non-pregnant populations. This is because insulin sensitivity decreases after a few days of sleep restriction without a compensatory increase in insulin release, which leads to a decrease in glucose tolerance. Regarding pregnant women, scientists say more research is needed to confirm these early results and whether increasing the number of hours of sleep to be beneficial for reduce the risks gestational diabetes.
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