Your sleep pattern affects many aspects of your health, including your weight, your immune system, and how well your brain works. However, it is also important for the maintenance of blood sugar (or glucose), which can increase your risk of developing diabetes.

What happens to your blood sugar during sleep?

It depends on whether the hormone insulin, which removes glucose from the blood, works properly. Blood sugar levels rise when you sleep, usually between 4 and 8 a.m. for a person who follows normal sleep. (This is called the Dawn Effect.) Insulin can maintain growth in a healthy person by directing muscle, ***, and liver cells to take glucose out of the blood by keeping your levels stable.

In people with diabetes or those at risk of developing it, insulin does not do its job very effectively, thereby raising blood sugar levels.

Diabetes and sleep patterns

While nutrition and obesity are important factors in the risk of diabetes, studies have also shown that sleep patterns, perhaps, affect how effectively your cells respond to insulin over time.

More than 4,000 participants participated in a study in which they reported how much sleep they received each night. People who sleep less than 6 hours are twice as likely to develop insulin-resistant cells or complete diabetes. This is true even after researchers have considered other lifestyle patterns.

Other sleep disorders and disorders such as sleep apnea increase the risk of diabetes.

However, the risk is even bigger at the other end of the spectrum. People who sleep more - more than 9 hours every night - have a higher risk of developing diabetes for unknown reasons.

How does a lack of sleep increase your risk?

Hard to say for sure. According to many types of research, short sleepers (people who sleep less than 6 hours a night) have more regular eating habits, have more snacks, and are more likely to eat unhealthy food.

According to another study, lack of sleep has a direct effect on the body producing other hormones, which can affect blood sugar levels. When you wake up late, for example, your body produces extra cortisol, which alters the way insulin works.

In addition, data collection suggests that waking up your body's biological clock (also known as your circadian rhythm) at night can cause your cells to become more insulin resistant. The researchers disrupted the circadian rhythms of 16 healthy volunteers in one study, mimicking a sleep deprivation workweek by giving them only 5 hours of sleep each night. Participants' bodies do not normally use insulin when they eat late at night when the body is not naturally prepared for an increase in blood sugar.

What are your options?

Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night to control blood sugar.

If you work at night or during rush hour, try to keep your diet and sleep schedule the same even during your holidays. Also, take a short walk or stretch during your break to do some exercise.

If you are worried about your blood sugar, getting good sleep regularly can help your body use insulin more effectively. In addition to getting enough sleep, try to avoid eating late at night and do some activities like going for a walk after dinner.

If you have diabetes, see your doctor you have diabetes, or if your blood sugar level is consistently high in the morning. To understand what's going on, you may need to do some more blood sugar tests or use a continuous glucose monitor, which will show you how to fix it. Your doctor may advise you to change your diabetes medications or exercise program.