New research finds people sleeping less than six hours a night were much more prone to develop a pre-diabetic condition called incident-impaired fasting glycemia, according to Science Daily.
The likelihood was three times as great as people sleeping an average of six to eight hours nightly.
IFG, which entails poor glucose regulation, can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease and stroke.
The study, by researchers at Warwick Medical School and the State University of New York at Buffalo, involved 1,455 participants aged between 35 and 79 and covered six years of data.
Sleep deprivation could cause disordered glucose metabolism in a number of ways, says lead author Saverio Stranges. Prior research has found that short sleep duration boosts the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, he notes, while other studies have shown that insufficient sleep lowers glucose tolerance while increasing cortisol production, in response to stress.
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