Evening preference, lack of sleep associated with higher BMI in people with prediabetes

Individuals with prediabetes, who go to bed later, eat meals later and are more active and alert later in the day. The individuals who have an evening preference have higher body mass indices compared with people with prediabetes who do things earlier in the day, or exhibit morning preference. According to study, the higher BMI among people with evening preference is related to their lack of sufficient sleep.

Prediabetes is where glucose levels are higher than typical however not yet high enough to be Type 2 diabetes. Without modifications to exercise and diet, patients with prediabetes have a very high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Lack of sufficient sleep has been previously connected to an increased risk for various health conditions, including obesity and diabetes. Evening preference has likewise been connected to higher weight and higher risk for diabetes.

Diabetes is such a widespread disease with such an impact on quality of life, that identifying new lifestyle factors that might play into its development can help us advice patients with a beginning stage of the disease on things they can do to turn it around and prevent prediabetes from becoming full-blown diabetes.

Participants who scored high in morningness answered questions showing that they preferred to wake up earlier, have exercises prior, and felt more alert earlier in the day compared with individuals who scored high on eveningness. Sleep duration and timing were obtained using a questionnaire and the extent of social jet lag was assessed for each participant. Social jet lag reflects a shift in sleep timing among weekdays and weekends. Greater social jetlag has previously been shown to be associated with higher BMI in some populations. Average sleep duration was around seven hours per night.   

The scientists found that for participants younger than 60 years of age, more elevated levels of social jet lag were related with a higher BMI. Among participants older than 60 years old, those with more evening preference had higher BMIs and this impact was partly due to having insufficient sleep but not social jet lag. Evening preference was directly connected with higher BMI in this group. 

Timing and duration of sleep are potentially modifiable. Individuals can have more regular bedtimes and aim to have more sleep, which may help decrease body mass index and the potential development of diabetes in this high-risk group.

Contact details:
Tiffany Hales
Program Manager | Diabetic 2018
Mail id: diabetes@mehealthevents.org