A team of researchers, including an Indian-origin, has discovered a possible mechanism in humans that explains how and why brain waves during deep sleep at night are able to control the body’s sensitivity to insulin. which in turn improves blood sugar control. next day.
Researchers have known that a lack of quality sleep can increase a person’s risk of diabetes. However, it remains a mystery why. Now, new findings from a team of sleep scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are closer to the answer.
“Synchronized brain waves act like a finger that starts a related chain reaction from the brain to the heart by first moving a domino and then altering the body’s regulation of blood sugar,” said UC Berkeley professor Matthew Walker. Neuroscience and Psychology and senior author of the new study.
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Specifically, the combination of two brain waves, called sleep spindles and slow waves, is predicted to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin, which beneficially lowers blood sugar levels, Walker reported in the journal Cell. reported in the study published in Reports Medicine.
Researchers say this is an exciting advance because sleep is a modifiable lifestyle factor that can now be used as part of a therapeutic and painless supportive treatment for people with high blood sugar or type 2 diabetes.
“The results also suggest that these deep-sleep brain waves can be used as a sensitive marker of someone’s next-day blood sugar levels,” said Vyoma D. Shah, a researcher at the Walker Center for Human Sleep. , which is far higher than traditional sleep metrics.” Science and co-author of the study.
The findings also suggest a novel, non-invasive tool – deep sleep brain waves – for mapping and predicting one’s blood sugar control.
The researchers first examined sleep data from a group of 600 individuals. They found that this particular coupled set of brain waves in deep sleep predicted glucose control the next day, even after controlling for age, gender, and other factors such as sleep duration and quality.
“This particular coupling of brain waves in deep sleep was more predictive of glucose than a person’s sleep duration or sleep efficiency,” said UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Rafael Vallat. The researchers later replicated the same effect by examining a different group of 1,900 participants.
The scientists said the research is particularly exciting given its potential clinical significance in the coming years. The researchers said the potential for new technologies to safely alter brain waves during deep sleep, such as those uncovered in this research, could help people better manage their blood sugar.