Recent UK studies have shown that children who do not sleep too much during the night or the day are more likely to have diabetes. The explanation offered by the specialists is very logic: an hour of sleep equals less sugar in the blood, more muscle mass, so on and so forth.
Type 2 Diabetes occurs when the body isn’t able to transform the sugar from the blood into energy. Energy is the key- word when it comes to children; this is why having diabetes at this young age could be very frustrating for the ones who suffer from it. The most common factors that lead to type 2 Diabetes are obesity and the big amount of sugar in blood.
One of the study researchers who made this connection (lack of sleep equals higher diabetes risk at children) is Christopher Owen, from St George’s University of London. He also observed the fact that, back in the days this type of illness wasn’t a disease the children had. It was mostly common at adults. However, things have changed and now children who eat many sugary products, don’t practice any sports and have an unbalanced way of life increased their chances to become subject to this illness.
Owen and his colleagues analyzed the sleeping habits of over 4.500 children aged 9 or 10 in the UK. They found out that the average sleeping time is approximately 10 hours per day. But the children who sleep fewer hours than that are more likely to have the illness and to be obese.
Specialists claim that lack of sleep is related to children’s lack of appetite. Thus, the body is struggling to find a balance and to regulate in a proper way the blood sugar levels.
As a way of prevention, specialists advise parents to set an eating and sleeping routine.
