Getting 7–8 hours of quality sleep each night is a powerful strategy for managing type 2 diabetes. Sleep regulates two critical hunger hormones: ghrelin, which drives appetite, and leptin, which signals fullness. When you don’t get enough sleep, ghrelin levels surge while leptin drops, making you hungrier and more likely to crave sugary or high-carb foods.
Have you ever noticed cravings the day after a short night of sleep? Or a bad night of rest? It is the ghrelin surge that makes you hungry and the drop in leptin tells you that you aren’t full or satisfied yet.
These cravings after a short night of sleep can spike your blood sugar and make it harder to control your weight. But if you prioritize consistent, restful sleep of 7-9 hours a night, you can help balance these hormones and cut out the cravings. And without the cravings it is easier to make better, healthier food choices that help you maintain your weight, or even help you lose weight if that is what your goal is.
Lack of sleep also has a direct impact on insulin sensitivity. When you’re well rested your cells respond better to insulin, which means glucose enters more efficiently into the cells, keeping your blood sugar at a safer level. A 2015 study from the journal Diabetologia found that just four night of restricted sleep (4.5 hours per night) reduced insulin sensitivity by 23% in healthy young men. The blood sugar levels and insulin levels were higher, particularly after a breakfast meal when they had a short night of sleep. So, making a consistent effort to get 7-9 hours of sleep a night is a great idea backed by many studies.
Consistent sleep deprivation can worsen insulin resistance, making diabetes harder to manage. And if you don’t have diabetes yet, lack of sleep makes it much more likely that you will get diabetes. Several long-term prospective cohort studies (These studies track people’s usual habits and link them to health outcomes years later.) show that sleeping too little or way too much are both related to higher incidence of diabetes and heart disease and death from any cause. You can read about 4 of these studies: Coronary Heart Disease in the Nurses’ Health Study, Type 2 Diabetes in the Nurses’ Health Study, Type 2 Diabetes in the UK Biobank, and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes in. the National Health Interview Survey.
A consistent 7-8 hour sleep schedule helps maintain steady insulin function and energy levels.
Takeaway: Like it or not, 7-8 hours of sleep every night is a healthy practice. It is not somehow better to always get less sleep. Gone are the days when leaders boast about not needing sleep to make great decisions and be “just fine.” A lack of sleep leads to more disease and a shorter life. So plan for a marathon, not a sprint through life. It may not be your top priority today, but don’t let it be the lowest priority in your life either.
