Insomnia increases diabetes in men

Disrupted sleep could increase a man's risk of diabetes by up to 400%. In a Swedish study reported by Reuters, sleep disturbances appeared to increase the risk of developing diabetes in men but not in women.

The survey in the medical journal Diabetes Care showed that after adjusting for age and other risk factors for diabetes, including high blood pressure, snoring, weight and depression, the risk of diabetes was nearly three-fold higher for men who got no more than 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, and nearly five times higher for men with difficulties maintaining sleep.

The researchers led by Dr. Lena Mallon, from University Hospital in Uppsala say there are several ways that lack of sleep might lead to diabetes. One possibility is that poor sleep is related to activation of the stress system, another is that lack of sleep debt may affect the body's ability to process carbohydrates.

Curiously, however, sleep variables were not tied to diabetes in women in the study.

Diabetes is an increasing problem. More than two million people in the UK have diabetes — that's about three in every 100 people. And there are another estimated one million people in the UK who have diabetes but don't know it.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predict that deaths from diabetes will increase by 25% in the next decade due to Britain's escalating weight problem.

A WHO report called 'Preventing Chronic Diseases, a Vital Investment' estimates that by 2015, 80% of men (and 73% of women over 30) will be overweight. Currently 76% of men are overweight in 2005. By 2015, it is estimated that there could be 8,000 more diabetes-related deaths every year.

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