Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Controlling Blood Sugar With Sleep

In Ayurveda getting adequate restful sleep is one of the pillars of good health.  Sleep is needed to repair the body on many levels.  Our modern life has seen sleep become significantly shortened for most people in this decade.  Type 2 diabetes has also risen as well.  People are experiencing high blood sugar levels.  Usually, the disease is linked to poor diet and poor exercise habits.  However, a decrease in sleeping hours over several nights can also hurt how insulin is processed causing a risk of Type 2 diabetes.

A recent study examined how only one night of poor sleep can negatively impact blood sugar.  Esther Donga of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands led a study where nine healthy people were examined both after eight hours of sleep and after four hours of sleep.  Simply losing four hours of sleep one night reduced insulin sensitivity and produced higher blood sugar levels.  It is incredible that one sleepless night affected a healthy person's body to such an extent.  Imagine the long term damage done by several nights of poor sleep.

Sleep is such a powerful healing tool.  It is cheap, natural and requires little effort.  I have heard and I have said myself so many excuses why I could not get as much sleep as I should.  Even if your sleep was less than you needed last night, you can repair damage just by increasing your sleep an hour or so.  Your goal should be to extend your sleep in any increment and make it a trend.  Your body will thank you.

Stay healthy & well,
Lisa

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