A group of researchers from the University of Chicago have published a study that suggests that sleeping long hours on the weekend, to recover the sleep deficit that we carry throughout the working week, can help reduce the risk of suffering diabetes.
This is not the first time that a study has suggested this approach, although it has a rather modest sample size: 19 healthy male volunteers .
The group of volunteers had their sleep altered. The group slept 8.5 hours each night for 4 hours. For the next four nights, they were able to sleep 4.5 hours. The next two nights, they were able to sleep as long as they wanted, averaging 9.7 hours per night .
Through insulin level monitoring: After the first four nights of sleep deprivation, your insulin sensitivity dropped 23% and your risk of diabetes increased 16%. However, after two nights of prolonged sleep, both parameters returned to normal. According to Esdras Tasali , study leader:
The metabolic response to this additional sleep was very interesting and encouraging. This shows that young, healthy people who sporadically don’t get enough sleep during the work week can lower their risk of diabetes by catching up on sleep over the weekend.
Image | andrewr