PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Insomnia linked to high insulin resistance in diabetics

Higher blood glucose and insulin levels seen in poor sleepers

2011-05-03
(Press-News.org) In the largest study of it kind to establish a link between sleep and diabetes, researchers found that people with diabetes who sleep poorly have higher insulin resistance, and a harder time controlling the disease.

The findings, published in the June issue of Diabetes Care, suggest that poor sleep may contribute to worse outcomes in people with diabetes.

"Poor sleep quality in people with diabetes was associated with worse control of their blood glucose levels," said Kristen Knutson, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and lead author of the study. "People who have a hard time controlling their blood glucose levels have a greater risk of complications. They have a reduced quality of life. And, they have a reduced life expectancy."

People with diabetes generally have poorer sleep than the general population, and poor sleep has been proposed as a risk factor for developing the disease. Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, are more prevalent in people with type 2 diabetes, Knutson said.

For the study, researchers monitored the sleep of 40 people with diabetes for six nights. The subjects also reported if they generally suffered from symptoms of sleep disturbances like insomnia, snoring or sleep apnea. At clinical examinations, they gave blood samples to allow researchers to measure insulin and glucose levels.

The subjects wore activity monitors on their wrists at night, which measure their wrist movements throughout the night. Poor sleep, or insomnia, was determined by both poor sleep quality based on the activity monitors and the subject telling the researchers that they often had a hard time falling asleep or woke up during the night.

Among the diabetics, poor sleepers had 23% higher blood glucose levels in the morning, and 48% higher blood insulin levels. Using these numbers to estimate a person's insulin resistance, the researchers found that poor sleepers with diabetes had 82% higher insulin resistance than normal sleepers with diabetes.

Knutson said the next step for researchers is to see if treating poor sleep can improve long-term outcomes and quality of life for diabetics. "For someone who already has diabetes, adding a sleep treatment intervention, whether it's treating sleep apnea or treating insomnia, may be an additional help for them to control their disease," Knutson said.

In fact, restoring a healthy amount of sleep may be as powerful an intervention as the drugs currently used to treat type 2 diabetes. "This suggests that improving sleep quality in diabetics would have a similar beneficial effect as the most commonly used anti-diabetes drugs," said Eve Van Cauter, PhD, professor of medicine and co-author of the study.

Further investigation into which leads to the other – the chronic poor sleep or chronic insulin resistance – could improve the quality of life for people with type 2 diabetes. "Anything that we can do to help people improve their ability to control their glucose will help their lives in the long run," Knutson said.

The data was collected as part of the CARDIA study, an ongoing longitudinal study of the heart health. It has tracked thousands of people for over 20 years.

### The study, "Cross-sectional associations between measure of sleep and markers of glucose metabolism among persons with and without diabetes" was published online March 16, 2011, in the journal Diabetes Care and is freely available. In addition to Drs. Knutson and Van Cauter, authors include Phyllis Zee and Kiang Liu at Northwestern University, and Diane Lauderdale at the University of Chicago Department of Health Studies.

The research was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The CARDIA study is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Blueprint of a trend: How does a financial bubble burst?

2011-05-03
BOSTON—A joint study by academics in Switzerland, Germany and at Boston University sheds new light on the formation of financial bubbles and crashes. Wild fluctuations in stock prices caused by bubbles bursting have had a dramatic impact on the world economy and the personal fortunes of millions of us in the last few years. The study "Switching processes in financial markets" will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 10 and reveals a general empirical law quantifying market behavior near bubbles and crashes—these are either price ...

Seeking happiness? Remember the good times, forget the regrets

2011-05-03
People who look at the past through rose-tinted glasses are happier than those who focus on negative past experiences and regrets, according to a new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. The study helps explain why personality has such a strong influence on a person's happiness. The findings suggest that persons with certain personality traits are happier than others because of the way they think about their past, present and future. The study examined how peoples' ratings on the "Big Five" personality traits relates to their approach ...

All Import Now Offers Aftermarket Parts

All Import Now Offers Aftermarket Parts
2011-05-03
Ft. Worth's premier salvage yard, All Import Auto Parts, recently added new Aftermarket parts for domestic and import cars to their growing inventory. Now not only can customers shop their huge inventory of premium used auto parts but also brand new parts as well. This represents a new avenue for All Import as they continually try to expand their offerings to meet the needs of their customers. Since 1989 All Import has met the needs of Ft. Worth import car owners by selling used auto parts at great discounts. Now not only are they offering used replacement parts for ...

Research demonstrates link between H1N1 and low birth weight

2011-05-03
In 2009, the United States was gripped by concern for a new winter threat: the H1N1 strain of influenza. According to research conducted through that winter, pregnant women were right to be concerned. A pair of research papers published in the recent issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology show that women who contracted H1N1 were more likely to give birth to lower birth weight babies as compared with women who had "influenza-like illness." The papers were compiled through the work of a team of researchers, including Brenna Anderson, MD, MSc, and Dwight ...

Boston University researchers validate important roles of iPSCs in regenerative medicine

2011-05-03
(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University's Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) have demonstrated that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can differentiate into definitive endoderm cells, in vitro, with similar functional potential when compared to embryonic stem cells (ESCs), despite minor molecular differences between the two cell types. These findings are particularly important given growing controversy in the scientific literature about whether subtle differences between iPSCs and ESCs should dampen enthusiasm for iPSCs to serve as an alternative source ...

News tips from the May/June issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

2011-05-03
MAY/JUNE PBZ TIPSHEET Giant Hummingbirds: Running a little hot, but not on empty What keeps an asexual fish species from taking over? Small sea birds: Holding heat, rather than cranking up the furnace For the complete table of contents for the May/June issue, go to journals.uchicago.edu/pbz. Giant Hummingbirds: Running a little hot, but not on empty Scientists have long thought that the giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) was just about as big as a hummingbird could get. They're nearly twice the size of the next largest species, and it was assumed that ...

Washing with contaminated soap increases bacteria on hands

2011-05-03
People who wash their hands with contaminated soap from bulk-soap-refillable dispensers can increase the number of disease-causing microbes on their hands and may play a role in transmission of bacteria in public settings according to research published in the May issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "Hand washing with soap and water is a universally accepted practice for reducing the transmission of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. However, liquid soap can become contaminated with bacteria and poses a recognized health risk in health care ...

Moderate levels of secondhand smoke deliver nicotine to the brain

2011-05-03
Exposure to secondhand smoke, such as a person can get by riding in an enclosed car while someone else smokes, has a direct, measurable impact on the brain—and the effect is similar to what happens in the brain of the person doing the smoking. In fact, exposure to this secondhand smoke evokes cravings among smokers, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, published today in Archives of General Psychiatry, used positron emission tomography (PET) to demonstrate that one hour of secondhand ...

New mothers can learn a lot from watching their babies

2011-05-03
The best teacher for a young mother is her baby, contend experts who train social workers to interact with first-time moms. "We like to think of babies as 'ordinary miracles,'" said Victor Bernstein, a research associate at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. But adjusting to a baby can take work, and the task of social workers often is to help young mothers learn to focus on an infant's needs, say Bernstein and other SSA experts. "Mothers are not only important to their kids, but kids are really important to their mothers," Bernstein ...

Antioxidant may prevent alcohol-induced liver disease

2011-05-03
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – An antioxidant may prevent damage to the liver caused by excessive alcohol, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The findings, published online April 21, 2011, in the journal Hepatology, may point the way to treatments to reverse steatosis, or fatty deposits in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis and cancer. The research team, led by Victor Darley-Usmar, Ph.D., professor of pathology at UAB, introduced an antioxidant called mitochondria-targeted ubiquinone, or MitoQ, to the mitochondria of rats that were given alcohol ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Cryptographic protocol enables secure data sharing in the floating wind energy sector

Can drinking coffee or tea help prevent head and neck cancer?

Development of a global innovative drug in eye drop form for treating dry age-related macular degeneration

Scientists unlock secrets behind flowering of the king of fruits

Texas A&M researchers illuminate the mysteries of icy ocean worlds

Prosthetic material could help reduce infections from intravenous catheters

Can the heart heal itself? New study says it can

Microscopic discovery in cancer cells could have a big impact

Rice researchers take ‘significant leap forward’ with quantum simulation of molecular electron transfer

Breakthrough new material brings affordable, sustainable future within grasp

How everyday activities inside your home can generate energy

Inequality weakens local governance and public satisfaction, study finds

Uncovering key molecular factors behind malaria’s deadliest strain

UC Davis researchers help decode the cause of aggressive breast cancer in women of color

Researchers discovered replication hubs for human norovirus

SNU researchers develop the world’s most sensitive flexible strain sensor

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

Neutrality has played a pivotal, but under-examined, role in international relations, new research shows

Study reveals right whales live 130 years — or more

Researchers reveal how human eyelashes promote water drainage

Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows

DFG to fund eight new research units

Modern AI systems have achieved Turing's vision, but not exactly how he hoped

Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology

Construction materials and household items are a part of a long-term carbon sink called the “technosphere”

First demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy Internet cables

Disparities and gaps in breast cancer screening for women ages 40 to 49

US tobacco 21 policies and potential mortality reductions by state

AI-driven approach reveals hidden hazards of chemical mixtures in rivers

Older age linked to increased complications after breast reconstruction

[Press-News.org] Insomnia linked to high insulin resistance in diabetics
Higher blood glucose and insulin levels seen in poor sleepers