Adequate sleep is not just needed to feel rejuvenated: It also helps keep hormones in balance and averts serious illness, according to urgent new advice from a top endocrinology society.
A chronic sleep deficiency can result in a permanent disruption of a person’s day-night cycle and can even lead to insulin resistance, resulting in higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, even though the body is producing more insulin.
Lack of sleep also disrupts the hormones which regulate hunger, meaning individuals are often more hungry than normal, a condition known as metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a hormonal disorder seen most commonly in severely overweight individuals, who have high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels and fat in the blood.
These risk factors all significantly increase the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or having a stroke, the German Endocrinology Society says.
– dpa
