Sleep
Sleep is incredibly important for human health and insufficient sleep duration and/or quality can have a major impact on your health. A study published in 2013 found that insufficient sleep affected the expression of 711 genes that help modulate the stress response, immune system, and metabolism(1). The study found that 1 week of sleep restriction of slightly less than 6 hours per night lead to a host of problems at the genetic level including increased oxidative stress, altered circadian rhythm, and altered energy metabolism, three hallmarks of many of the chronic diseases we see today including Type 2 diabetes. This study is a fairly good representation of the sleep habits of many Americans as a good chunk of the population gets less than 6 hours per night(2). Other studies have found that restricted sleep lead to changes in glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, and leptin sensitivity(3, 4). These changes begin to occur in as little as 2 nights of restricted sleep and a single night of no sleep(Hear that night shifters?). Typically, the progression of Type 2 diabetes begins with leptin resistance followed by insulin resistance. Over time, blood glucose regulation becomes permanently affected and Type 2 diabetes ensues. The research on sleep and Type 2 diabetes is pretty much settled at this point, not getting good quality sleep for 8 hours dramatically increases your risk for Type 2 diabetes(4).Physical Activity
When most people think of physical activity they think of exercise. This is a mistake, because an hour of exercise per day cannot make up for prolonged sedentary time in helping prevent Type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome(5, 6, 7). Even just breaking up prolonged periods of sitting with 2 minutes of physical activity every 20 minutes helps improve glucose metabolism(8). Most of the data points to spending as little time per day sitting being more important than exercising. Certainly exercise is also important, but try standing more throughout the day first.Next, walking more throughout the day is also something that is very beneficial in preventing and reversing Type 2 diabetes. Aside from the benefits of not being sedentary, taking a 15 minute walk after each meal has been shown to decrease the risk of Type 2 diabetes(9). Furthermore, people who maintain their daily step count over 5 years have been shown to maintain their insulin sensitivity better than people whose daily step count decreased over that time(10). A good goal to shoot for and the recommendation by the American Heart Association is 10,000 steps per day. The average American tends to get about 6600, quite a bit lower than the recommended number. Just taking a 15 minute walk after each meal will give you 4500 steps, so it's not that difficult to accomplish.
Stress
Physical inactivity can also lead to changes in the brain that can modulate the stress response in a negative way(11). In addition, sleep restriction can cause an overactive stress response(1). To complete the circle, sleep restriction in the face of physical inactivity has been shown to negatively impact insulin sensitivity and blood glucose regulation(12). All three of the factors we have discussed today are interrelated when it comes to the risk of Type 2 diabetes. While it may be easy to put yourself to bed early or make sure you get enough daily steps in, managing stress is a completely different ballgame. Fortunately, doing the other two usually helps with the third.It's very easy to see the importance of the stress response when it comes to physical stress. When you are out in the jungle and about to become a lion's lunch, the stress response springs in to action to partition your resources for fight or flight. This puts all non-essential processes on hold and floods the body with stress hormones. The stress response begins and ends in the hypothalamus. In what is basically a game of hormonal telephone, the hypothalamus tells the pituitary gland to tell the adrenal glands to make stress hormones. These hormones help mobilize energy, particularly glucose, to provide the body with fast acting energy. Over time, these hormones act on the hypothalamus and tell it to cools it's jets. Obviously mobilizing energy is key to fighting or fleeing, the problem is that there is a direct line from the amygdala to the hypothalamus and that can turn on the stress response in the face of a perceived threat.
The amygdala is the emotional center of the brain. Under the proper circumstances, the amygdala can tell the hypothalamus to initiate the stress response. The problem is that in today's society, there are so many psychological stressors that can initiate the stress response. How am I going to pay the mortgage? What if my wife divorces me? I have a big deadline that I need to make. Any sort of situation that we deem as stressful has the potential to initiate the stress response. The problem is, what do you need energy for to flee an emotional stressor? Furthermore, can you ever really flee an emotional stressor? Even if you do, there is typically another one right behind it. As these stress hormones and glucose enter your bloodstream, there really is no need for them because it's not energy that you need. What you need is to stop processing this information through your amygdala. This is the goal of mindfulness.
The reason you have been hearing so much about mindfulness and mindfulness meditation is because mindfulness is a way to alter your thought processing so that you avoid generating an emotional response to psychological stress. Many companies have begun mindfulness meditation programs as a way to help reduce stress for their employees and top executives tout it's benefits in helping them deal with stress. How does this relate to Type 2 diabetes? People with Type 2 diabetes have increased sympathetic nervous system activity(13). This basically means that their stress response is activated more often and more easily than a normal person. This flood of stress hormones and blood glucose is not good when it isn't needed. Just to get a firm grasp on how important the stress response is in Type 2 diabetes, one of the ways that the stress response increases blood glucose is by causing the liver to produce more of it. One of the primary pharmaceuticals used in Type 2 diabetes is metformin and it's mode of action is...It causes the liver to make less glucose.
Developing good stress management tools is key to helping prevent or reverse Type 2 diabetes. Mindfulness is probably the best tool out there and can provide a one-two punch combined with proper sleep to help manage stress and help prevent or reverse Type 2 diabetes. Add in a little physical activity to make you tired, and you have a pretty good jump start on living a healthier, Type 2 diabetes-free life.
Conclusion
There is tons of research on the aspects of lifestyle that will negatively impact blood glucose regulation and increase your risk for Type 2 diabetes. Getting enough sleep, partaking in regular physical activity, and managing stress are all important in preventing Type 2 diabetes as well as managing your blood glucose if you have it. Making an effort to get 8 hours of sleep every night, getting at least 10,000 steps a day, spending as little time as possible being seated/sedentary, and utilizing stress management strategies such as yoga and practicing mindfulness should be on your to-do list if you want to live a long, healthy, happy life free of Type 2 diabetes.Part 1-Overview
Part 2-Diet