Written by Jamie Stowe | Tuesday, 10 March 2009 | There are 5 comments
people who had regular siestas were over ¼ more likely to end up with diabetes
Ukmedix News has published lots of research showing the link between good sleep and lower rates of obese children and adults but new research suggests regular siestas after lunch could actually increase the chances of individuals developing Type 2 diabetes. The study which involved over 16,000 people saw that those people who had regular siestas were over ¼ more likely to end up with the diabetic condition than those people who did not have siestas.
But the researchers admitted that the link could not be put down purely to the siesta and was likely to be connected with the fact that people who nap during the day are more likely to be less physically active in general and have problems sleeping at night. Many people avoid sleeping during the day because they say that it leaves them unable to sleep well at night.
The research which is being presented at a Diabetes UK conference in Glasgow (which has some of the highest rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in Europe), will also examine the link between genetic factors and being overweight to Type 2 diabetes. The study was done by a group of scientists from the University of Birmingham as well as the Guangzhou Hospital in China and it should make doctors more aware of the impact that unhealthy and irregular sleeping patterns can have on general health.
There are those people who argue that in fact that having a siesta everyday is beneficial for health and provides a better way of resting the body. Ukmedix News has reported on research done in Spain which shows that since the siesta has become less popular more people are overweight.
A little bit of common sense seems to suggest that the siesta itself is not to blame but men and women should examine whether having a daily nap is helping them to get better quality sleep over a 24 hour period or is it undermining their sleeping patterns leaving them tired everyday?
There are 5 comments on this article.
Eddiebaby said:
I cannot believe that such a conclusion would be reached, but until we see exactly what the research findings were it is premature to criticise. I would observe that type 2 diabetes is not always easy to detect in it's early stages yet someone affected might well feel more tired than the average person and therefore feel more inclined to take a nap. They might then, subsequently, be daignosed as a type 2 diabetes sufferer. Does this make napping the cause? My suspicion is that napping is merely a response to a symptom - but surely the researchers will have considered this.
Jackie said:
Do you not think that the food particular to a country influences type 2 diabetes? why do some countries have a much higher rate of diabetes than others?
martin said:
Siestas after any meal are bad. Its not doubt about it.
When a person is asleep, the process of digestion slows down making that person more vulnerable to accumulate fat, sugar and other many other bad thing from the food that was consume. The body needs time to digest the food instead of keep it inside the body.
caro said:
Good point Jackie! Probably people in South America have a higher rate of diabetes because they are lazy.
AVD said:
I agree with the commenter Martin who said- "Siestas after any meal are bad. Its not doubt about it. When a person is asleep, the process of digestion slows down making that person more vulnerable to accumulate fat, sugar..." .
I have observed that when I take a siesta, I tend to get puffier cheeks. A friend who has done a degree in nutrition once told me that taking a daytime nap is bad for losing weight and I tend to believe her because of my this experience.
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