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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sleep Deprivation Could Increase Risk of Diabetes
Aired June 26, 2001 - 07:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: All that and much more, but first there's the connection between sleep and the risk of getting diabetes. It is a growing health concern in this workaholic world.
CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey is in Washington. She has details on this one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This college student is sleep deprived. She sleep walks and according to her roommates, she also eats during her sleep.
PHYLLIS CONSTANT, GEORGETOWN SLEEP DISORDERS: She gets up and doesn't realize she's doing it. She goes in, gets food out of the refrigerator, and she eats it.
BLAKEY: Sleep eating is unusual, but in our increasingly non- stop society, sleep deprivation isn't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm always busy, being as I have two jobs.
BLAKEY: Research from the University of Chicago indicates chronic short sleepers may be at greater risk of developing diabetes. Sixteen million Americans have diabetes. Another 20 to 30 million have impaired glucose tolerance, a condition that could result in diabetes. It's a condition caused by poor insulin sensitivity -- sensitivity that could be eroded by lack of sleep.
DR. RICHARD WALDHORN, SLEEP EXPERT: Disruptions in sleep can have profound effects on a number of endocrine problems and insulin resistance could be a pre-diabetic situation that could affect many, many people who are sleep deprived in our society.
BLAKEY: Sleep researchers studied 27 healthy non-obese adults ages 23 to 42. Fourteen were normal sleepers, averaging just under eight hours of sleep during the eight-night study. Thirteen were chronic short sleepers, getting less than five and a half-hours of sleep.
On the final day of the study, both groups underwent an intravenous glucose tolerance test. The results: insulin sensitivity was almost 40 percent lower among short sleepers. (on camera): Researchers at the University of Chicago have already linked failing insulin sensitivity with something called metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome represents a whole host of health problems including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
WALDHORN: We know that certain patients with sleep disorders are obese and they have a difficult time losing weight, another sign of abnormalities in insulin, metabolism.
BLAKEY (voice-over): Sleep experts predict our prevalent, more work, less sleep mentality will continue to help fuel the diabetes epidemic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLAKEY: While University of Chicago researchers believe they have proven inadequate sleep may trigger a chain reaction that could lead to diabetes, they readily admit more research is needed. Diabetes is the sixth-leading cause -- disease cause of death in the U.S. Sleep deprivation is also a major public health concern -- Linda.
STOUFFER: Rea, I'm sure you're a bit sleepy today too from getting up early, but if you can tell us what is it about sleep that relates to diabetes and makes it so important.
BLAKEY: Well, one of the functions of sleep beyond just getting physical rest is to help assure the normal metabolism of sugar and as the study shows, not enough sleep, the body simply loses its ability to recognize its own insulin, therefore, that chain reaction could in fact ensue.
STOUFFER: And Rea, we're not the only people talking about diabetes today. It's making the headlines for another reason. What's going on with that?
BLAKEY: Absolutely. There will be witnesses attending a hearing here on Capitol Hill today who will be asking for research funding for juvenile diabetes, which is different from the diabetes we've been talking about in the sleep study.
In the sleep study, we were talking about Type 2 Diabetes, which is non-insulin dependent. Type 1 Diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes is insulin dependent. There are about a million people who have this particular condition and it requires insulin shots maybe numerous times during the day.
One of the big highlights will be the testimony by Mary Tyler Moore, who is the International Chairperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She, herself, has been a Type 1 diabetic -- that means injecting insulin regularly, for a good 30 years now, and there are a number of health concerns associated with that particular condition. I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about that today as the hearing ensues.
STOUFFER: We'll definitely be listening for that. Rea, thank you very much.
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