Resent research published in the Science Translational Medicine journal suggest that shift-workers are significantly more likely to develop diabetes and other weight problems thanks to glucose imbalances as a result of sleep disturbances.

 

Prolonged periods of sleep restriction, usually associated with shift-work, has been found to disrupt glucose regulation and metabolic rates, leading to increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

 

The study followed a number of subjects who were allowed to sleep for 10 hours at night, which was followed by three weeks of disruption to sleeping patterns to simulate shift-work conditions.

 

“Exposure to prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption, with measurements taken at the same circadian phase, decreased the participants’ resting metabolic rate and increased plasma glucose concentrations after a meal, an effect resulting from inadequate pancreatic insulin secretion,” the report concluded.

 

The study also found that patterns normalised after nine days of recovery sleep.