Sleep disruption raises type 2 diabetes risk
I'm not all that thrilled to say that I share my living space with a cat. Oh, who am I kidding, I like the stupid, little thing. Still, there are plenty of points throughout the night when I second-guess my decision to have rescued it from the pound. It's usually around 3am or so, when the four-legged menace decides my fiance and I have slept enough and it wants to play. Or eat. Or do just about anything cats generally do at that hour. Closing the bedroom door isn't an option because the cat claws at the door all night, making it even more difficult to get some rest. All these sleep disturbances ... they have to be doing a number on my health. Unfortunately, they are; it seems they may actually be increasing my risk of type 2 diabetes.I suppose I could have left out that entire cutesy, little story about my cat and just got right to the point, but I felt the need to share (wow, I'm emasculating myself more and more by the sentence, aren't I?). Anyway, it turns out that even slight disturbances while sleeping -- including barely audible sounds, such as ... oh, I don't know ... a cat scratching a bedroom door -- can have an affect on blood sugar.
Researchers from the University of Chicago found that after three nights of playing barely audible sounds as study volunteers slept, these individuals experienced a 25 percent change in their blood glucose levels.
As for what to do about an annoying cat, the researchers had no suggestions.
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