Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/9W6waH_s72k

Even a one hour variation in your day to day sleep pattern can wreak havoc on your body’s metabolism putting your health and life at risk. This conclusion stems from comprehensive study by sleep scientists at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with those at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Previous studies have shown that insufficient sleep duration drives obesity and diabetes.  Now a  study of more than 2000 subjects ages 45 to 84 tracked their sleep patterns with smart watches as well as sleep diaries.

Bedtime and sleep duration variability was associated with higher blood pressures, elevated triglycerides, high blood sugars, and larger waistline circumferences as well as lower levels of good HDL cholesterol.  This was true even when the average sleep durations were comparable.

So as Ben Franklin said, “early to bed, early to rise etc etc etc” still holds true as long as those early hours are pretty much the same every night.   Consistency is up there with moderation as principles by which to live.

Huang, T., Redline, S. Cross-sectional and prospective associations of actigraphy-assessed sleep regularity with metabolic abnormalities: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Diabetes Care, 2019 DOI: 10.2337/dc19-0596

#Sleep #circadianrhythms #varaiability #metabolism #obsesity #diabetes #lipids