Medicine and Health related Information » Diabetes Risk Factor

LESS SLEEP MAY LEAD TO DIABETES

dr.faizan — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:52:12 +0000

Recent research has revealed that people who are insomniac or who sleep less at nights or those who sleep for less than 6 hours per night on an average when compared to those who sleep well for at least 6 to 8 hours every night are at risk of diabetes. The research conducted at university at Buffalo which is considered as one of the most largest campus at the state university of New York system says that people who sleep less than 6 hours per night are at 4.5 times more risk of developing diabetes. In impaired fasting glucose reading if it is higher than 100 then it is considered as the patient is pre-diabetic which may lead to type 2 diabetes. In fact 25% of people who show reading above 100 are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in some point of their life which may lead to many other complications like heart diseases and premature death. It was found that people who sleep for less than 6 hours have more chances of developing pre- diabetes when compared to those who sleep for about 6- 8 hours where as those who are long sleepers for more than 8 hours don’t show any significant effect on their blood glucose levels.

This study which was funded by National Institute of Health was recently presented at the American Heart Association is considered as good support in finding the relationship between improper sleep and various health hazards. So Doctors are advised to discuss about their patients sleeping habits to prevent any adverse health effect in their future.

Diabetes Risk Factors: DIABETES CAN DOUBLE THE RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S

dr.faizan — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:45:52 +0000

According to a recent study conducted it was found that diabetes can increase the risk of alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia. The study was conducted on more than 13,000 swedish twins. It says that diabetics who are diagnosed with diabetes before the age of 65 are at more than double the risk of getting affected by alzheimer’s. However diabetic patients who are diagnosed with diabetes after the age of 65 are not in this zone.

According to American Diabetes Association nearly 24 million Americans are diabetic.

The study was conducted in karolinska institute, stockholm, Sweden, by Weili xu and his colleagues. He further says that his findings offer one more reason for people to maintain a healthy lifestyle so as to avoid problems of dementia in later part of their life.

The study began in 1998 and all the participants were atleast 65 when the study began. The study lasted till 2001.

Among all the participants 467 were diagnosed with dementia and 292 of them were diagnosed with alzheimer’s. Diabetic participants were about 1,396.

“Twins provide naturally matched pairs, in which confounding factors such as genetics and childhood environment may be removed when comparisons are made between twins”. co-author Margaret Gatz, PhD, professor of psychology, gerontology, and preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and foreign adjunct professor of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet, says in a news release.