Lack of Sleep Is Genetically Linked To Type 2 Diabetes

Filed in archive Research on December 8, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Stacey Newman

Lack of Sleep has a genetic link with type 2 diabetes is the new finding reported at Nature Genetics.

The said findings discovered a surprisingly clear connection between sleep and the regulation of sugar levels in the blood.

The findings fill in some of the molecular details of how sleep can change blood sugar levels. The key, it appears, is a melatonin receptor, a protein on the outside of cells that senses melatonin in the blood and triggers sleep- or wake-related changes in cells.

The three new genomic studies show that melatonin, a major regulator of the body's sleep clock, is closely linked to increased glucose levels and diabetes.

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