The Connection Between Sleep Loss, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes

In this review, evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that reduced sleep duration may be part of the behavioral modifications that played a role in the development of the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes. An important consideration when trying to explain the epidemiologic link between sleep loss and metabolic risk is that it is not clear whether the physiological effects of sleep restriction observed under laboratory conditions over a period of a few days can be translated to chronic sleep restriction as it occurs in free-living individuals. Also, when comparing different laboratory studies of sleep restriction, differences in the “dose” of sleep loss relative to the physiological need of the individual are often ignored. While the body of evidence suggestive of an interaction between sleep loss and the epidemics of obesity and diabetes continues to build at a rapid pace, much remains to be discovered as far as mechanisms and the transition from short-term laboratory conditions to chronic partial sleep deprivation in real life. Intervention studies extending sleep in habitual short sleepers and examining the impact on metabolic outcomes are needed to further address the direction of causality of the association between insufficient sleep, obesity, and diabetes and the potential clinical implications.