Short or irregular sleep may predispose to diabetes.

Shorting sleep regularly or sleeping out of phase with the day-night cycles (typical of shift work) seems to produce physiological changes that predispose people to type 2 diabetes. Researchers confrimed this when 21 participants lived in a sleep laboratory with no contact with the outside world for 6 weeks. Fortunately, these changes reverted during the 9 day recovery period.

PositiveTip: Regularity in sleep can strengthen your resistance to diabetes (and probably other diseases, too).

Irregular schedules raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Women who worked at least three night shifts per month (in addition to days and evenings in the same month) for 20 or more years experienced a 58% increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes compared with those who did not rotate shifts. Those who had less than 10 years of rotating shifit work experienced a 5% increase, while the risk rose to 40% among those with 10-19 years. This data comes from the Nurses Health Study I and II and was adjusted for weight gain and smoking.

PositiveTip: Regularity in life seems to afford significant benefits. Choosing to avoid the unecessary disruptions is good for your health!