[0:00] SPEAKER_01: and weather together on the 8th on all news 1069 and am 740 kcbs your news watch continues another good reason to get good sleep a new study is exploring the link between unhealthy sleep and type 2 diabetes while previous research established this connection we are now learning how racial disparities and socioeconomic differences can contribute as well For more, we're joined live on the KCBS Ring Central Newsline by Dr. Kelsey Full, behavioral epidemiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt. Thanks very much for the time. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Okay, talk about this, A, this link between unhealthy sleep and diabetes, and then also how you can look at how it occurs across different races.

[0:45] SPEAKER_00: Sure. So we were interested in how sleep patterns were associated with the risk of developing diabetes. And our study included over 36

[0:57] SPEAKER_00: states in the southeast. So our sample was really unique in that we included a large number of black and African-Americans as well as lower income adults in the southeast. And we found that all the adults who had unhealthy sleep patterns, so who didn't maintain sleeping seven to nine hours a night, that they were more likely to develop diabetes in our large study. And these results were really consistent when we looked across different subgroups. So when we looked across both black and African-American adults, as well as the white adults, and then also across the different socioeconomic groups.

[1:31] SPEAKER_01: Are these people who maybe, A, don't have good eating habits or also they have difficult work schedules?

[1:40] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we think that work is a big thing that plays into your sleep, as well as different social determinants of health, right? So where you live, whether or not you have stress, whether or not you experience racism, whether or not you come from an underserved community, all these things can really contribute to your sleep health and then your long-term health after that.

[2:01] SPEAKER_01: I think this is interesting when you say that the strongest association with diabetes was found among people who reported extreme changes and higher variability in their sleep duration. What do you mean by that?

[2:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when we looked across the different groups, we found that the adults who either fluctuated from short sleep, so less than seven hours, to longer than nine hours across the five-year period, or the opposite, right? So they were long sleepers who then became short sleepers. That extreme variability, that was associated with the greatest risk of diabetes.

[2:34] SPEAKER_01: So not like you have a little bit of time to sleep on one night and then you try and catch up the next day.

[2:40] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly. It's that more extreme variation. And, you know, we know that sleep is dynamic and it changes over time. So I think it's really important that we were able to measure sleep at two different time points.

[2:52] SPEAKER_01: What do we do with this information? Does it help your general practitioners to make better observations or suggest healthier habits?

[3:03] SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important for practitioners to check in with their patients on a regular basis about their sleep. So not only just asking once at the first primary care visit, but every time they see them. I also just think it's important for us to know that, like you said, it's OK if we try to catch up on the weekend. Are we usually and generally maintaining a healthy amount of sleep? Are we able to get seven to nine hours on a somewhat regular basis and maintain that? And if stress and other things do pop up into our life, how can we prioritize our sleep?

[3:34] SPEAKER_01: Because it's really important. When you're young, it's a, you know, I'll sleep when I'm dead mentality.

[3:39] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And, you know, I get that. I totally understand. And kids and all of that play a big role. But we just have to do our best because we know that sleep's associated with short-term things like our mental and emotional health, but also long-term things like our risk of diabetes and cardiovascular health.

[3:57] SPEAKER_01: Doctor, thanks so much for the research and for your time. Dr. Kelsey Full, behavioral epidemiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt.