Sleep and Diabetes in Adolescents: A Battle between Physiology and Social Factors

Lilian de Jonge* and Lee Ann Kitzhaber

Sleep and Diabetes in Adolescents: A Battle between Physiology and Social Factors

There are several causes that could be responsible for this jump in prevalence such
as an increase in minority population, exposure to diabetes in utero, exposure to endocrine
disruptive chemicals and the soaring obesity rates.

The increase will have public health consequences. More children will enter adulthood
with an increased risk of early complications.

Younger patients also still have reproductive years ahead of them and diabetes in pregnancy is
a risk factor for diabetes in the next generation.

While it is well known that there is a complex genetic background to metabolic diseases,
the rising prevalences of obesity and diabetes have been driven by lifestyle changes.

These changes have been the main target for interventions aiming at the prevention and control
of the conditions. It is well established that positive energy balance is a major contributor to diabetes
and obesity.

Sleep has, however, emerged as an additional lifestyle factor and has been suggested
as a potential strategy to address adolescent obesity.

The homeostatic process is responsible for the increase in sleep propensity during wakefulness
and its dissipation during sleep, whereas the circadian process is responsible for the alternation
between periods of sleep and wakefulness.

Another process underlying sleep regulation is the ultradian process, which is responsible
for the architecture of the sleep period. This process occurs during the sleep episode
and represents an alternation between the 2 basic sleep states, non-rapid eye movement
sleep and rapid eye movement sleep.

Thus, the synchronization between these processes is essential for health and their interaction
determines the timing and structure of sleep.

Diabetes Res Open J. 2016; 2(2): e7- e9. doi: 10.17140/DROJ-2-e006

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