Insomnia could increase people’s risk of type 2 diabetes, study finds

Press release issued: 7 April 2022

People who have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep had higher blood sugar levels than people who rarely had sleep issues, new research has found. The University of Bristol-led findings suggest insomnia could increase people’s risk of type 2 diabetes, and that lifestyle or pharmacological treatments that improve insomnia could help to prevent or treat the condition.

The study, led by the University of Bristol, supported by the universities of Manchester, Exeter, and Harvard, and funded by Diabetes UK, is published in Diabetes Care.

Insomnia, not getting enough sleep, and having a later bedtime, have been linked in previous studies to a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. In this study, the research team assessed whether these associations are explained by causal effects of sleep traits on blood sugar levels.

The findings could improve researchers understanding of how sleep disturbance influences type 2 diabetes risk. The study also suggests that lifestyle and/or pharmacological interventions that improve insomnia might help to prevent or treat diabetes.

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Paper: ‘Assessing the causal role of sleep traits on glycated haemoglobin: a Mendelian randomization study’ by James Liu, Rebecca C Richmond, Martin K Rutter et al. in Diabetes Care.