Complications From Lack of Sleep If you get less than 7 hours of sleep per night regularly, your diabetes will be harder to manage. Too little sleep can: Increase insulin resistance.
Although it sounds contradictory, sleep can both raise and lower glucose levels. Our bodies experience a cycle of changes every day—called a circadian rhythm—which naturally raises blood sugar levels at night and when a person sleeps. These natural blood sugar elevations are not a cause for concern.
In the long run, it is best to try to get 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night, so you can feel and function at your best and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other health problems.
A: Yes. Multiple studies have shown that repeated awakenings during the night, insufficient sleep, excessive sleep, and irregular sleep all promote glucose intolerance. Furthermore, if a person has prediabetes or diabetes, poor sleep will worsen the condition.
If you have diabetes, too little sleep negatively affects every area of your management, including how much you eat, what you choose to eat, how you respond to insulin, and your mental health. Proper rest isn't just important for your diabetes management—it may also put you in a better mood and give you more energy!
If you have diabetes, late-night snacks aren't necessarily off-limits — but it's important to make healthy choices. Late-night snacks add extra calories, which can lead to weight gain.
If you have diabetes, your body doesn't release more insulin to match the early-morning rise in blood sugar. It's called the dawn phenomenon, since it usually happens between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. The dawn phenomenon happens to nearly everyone with diabetes.
Many people with diabetes will describe themselves as feeling tired, lethargic or fatigued at times. It could be a result of stress, hard work or a lack of a decent night's sleep but it could also be related to having too high or too low blood glucose levels.
When blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys overcompensate by causing you to urinate more often. During the night, these frequent trips to the bathroom lead to disrupted sleep. High blood sugar may also cause headaches, increased thirst, and tiredness that can interfere with falling asleep.
According to Laura Hieronymus, MD, vice president of health care programs at the American Diabetes Association, “Fatigue is a symptom of hyperglycemia (high blood glucose). When blood glucose levels are too high, the body is not processing glucose as energy; therefore, tiredness or fatigue may occur.”
Moreover, metformin as an insulin sensitizer can affect sleep via altering glucose metabolism. Metformin improves the neural glucose resorption and it can affect the nervous system health, and therefore affecting sleep quality.
While some people regularly function on short periods of sleep, research mostly agrees that six hours of sleep is not enough for most adults. Experts recommend that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep every night.
The dawn phenomenon is an early-morning rise in blood sugar, also called blood glucose, in people with diabetes. The dawn phenomenon leads to high levels of blood sugar, a condition called hyperglycemia. It usually happens between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
In most cases, doctors ask people to measure fasting blood sugar immediately upon waking and before they have anything to eat or drink. It may also be appropriate to test blood sugar before eating or 2 hours after a meal, which is when blood sugar returns to normal levels.
Fatigue is a common symptom of diabetes that is not limited to uncontrolled diabetes. Persons may complain of fatigue along with a variety of symptoms, which may together herald comorbid psychological, medical, metabolic or endocrine, and acute or chronic complications.
Fatigue/Tiredness
Blood sugar levels are always high when you have type 2 diabetes, but the sugar has a difficult time entering the cells. This causes the cells to work with less efficiency because they do not have the proper amount of energy. Because of this, a person with type 2 diabetes may feel tired all the time.
For most people with diabetes, mealtimes should space out through the day like this: Have breakfast within an hour and half of waking up. Eat a meal every 4 to 5 hours after that. Have a snack between meals if you get hungry.
Low blood sugar in the mornings, also known as morning hypoglycemia, can make people feel faint, light-headed, or confused when they wake up. Having low blood sugar in the mornings is common in people on medication for diabetes, though it can also happen for other reasons.
If you have type 2 diabetes breakfast cereals made with wholegrains can help to manage blood glucose levels, they release glucose more slowly as they are low GI. Weetabix, Oatibix and Shredded Wheat can make for good choices.