It’s no secret that teenagers like to sleep. Now a new study suggests that allowing teens to indulge this luxury may help reduce their insulin resistance and prevent the future onset of type 2 diabetes.

Studies have already linked sleep deficits in teens to learning difficulties, irritability, skin problems and weight gain. A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry says it can also increase a person’s resistance to insulin, which can increase the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

The study, which appears this month in the journal SLEEP tracked the sleep duration and insulin resistance of 245 healthy high school students. Each student participating provided a fasting blood draw. They also kept sleep logs and wore a device known as an actigraph for one week during the school year. The device measured rest and activity patterns.

The results showed that among the teens higher insulin resistance was associated with shorter sleep duration. The study is the only one in healthy adolescents that shows a relationship between sleep duration and insulin resistance that is independent of obesity, according to the study’s author.

Type 2 diabetes was once considered a condition that affects older people. Those with sedentary lifestyles and excess weight are at greater risk for developing the disease. However, with childhood obesity growing exponentially in the United States, type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents is becoming more and more common.

While exercising and maintaining a healthy diet can help diabetics control their blood sugar levels, most people will eventually have to rely on medication. Actos is one of the more popular drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes. In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers that the drug had been linked to an increased risk for bladder cancer, especially in people who used the drug for 12 months or more.

Source: PsychCentral

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