With people commonly switching between weekday and weekend or holiday sleeping, concerns over the contribution of sleep cycle changes in the risk of incidences of diabetes, heart diseases and other health problems are legitimate.
A study of 447 men and women, 30 to 54 years of age, for 24 hours a day within a period of a full week focused on determining the effect of sleep cycle changes to the participants' health.
Besides wristbands that recorded the participants' sleep cycles and daily activities for the whole period of the test, the researchers also assessed eating and workout habits through questionnaires. Of these participants, 85 percent spent longer hours in sleep during free days than during work days.
According to the findings, those who slept longer during the weekends and holidays showed more signs of detriment in their health. The participants with this nature of sleep cycle discrepancies within the week were found to have increased cholesterol, higher fasting insulin count, more resistance to insulin, higher body mass index (BMI) and a rounder waist.
Even with adjusted calorie consumption and exercise, the researchers found the result of what they call social jet lag to be consistent.
Study author Patricia Wong of the University of Pittsburgh explains, "Social jet lag refers to the mismatch between an individual's biological circadian rhythm [body clock] and their socially imposed sleep schedules. Other researchers have found that social jet lag relates to obesity and some indicators of cardiovascular function."
She says further, "However, this is the first study to extend upon that work and show that even among healthy, working adults who experience a less extreme range of mismatches in their sleep schedule, social jet lag can contribute to metabolic problems."
According to Patricia, these metabolic changes can be contributing factors to the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.
The research team, however, clarifies that further study is required to establish direct cause-and-effect link between changeable sleep cycles and such illnesses.
Patricia suggests the benefits of looking into clinical interventions for disturbances to the circadian rhythm, education of employees and their families about structured work and home schedules and policies that support these concerns.
These findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
See Also:
- Is Workplace Stress Taking 33 Years out of Your Life?
- Highest Work-Life Balance: The 5 Best Countries Based on OECD 2015 Better Life Index
- Catching up on Sleep May Harm the Body
