Diabetes symptoms now include snoring, sleep apnea: study

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A new study from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston links snoring and sleep apnea in seniors to exhibiting diabetes symptoms such as high blood sugar. Furthermore, these people who experience breathing issues during sleep are twice as likely to develop diabetes than those who are sound sleepers, Reuters reports.

Many diabetes symptoms go unnoticed and the only way a person can determine that he’s suffering from the disease is if he consults a doctor and gets a blood test. Some symptoms, on the other hand, are too common that people just wave them away as nothing, such as weight loss, increased urination, and excessive thirst.

Dr. Linn Beate Strand, the lead author of the study, explains that the connection between sleeping disorders and diabetes has long been studied but most of them only focused on the younger population. There is only a minimal data collected in relation to the risk of sleep-disordered breathing to diabetes studies which is unbelievable as sleep apnea or snoring usually becomes common as a person ages.

The research team analyzed the collected data of almost 6000 senior American adults from the years 1989 to 1993, News Max writes. None of them have been diagnosed with sleep apnea nor diabetes at the time of the study. For the duration of the study, the researchers visited the participants every six months to inquire if they have experienced any events of sleep apnea, daytime sleepiness, and insomnia symptoms.

The team also monitored the insulin level of the participants from the start up to every six months during the duration of the study. At the same time, the researchers took note who among the participants developed diabetes. Interestingly, those who have reported to have experienced sleep apnea and snoring have also shown higher fasting blood sugar than those who have been sleeping okay.

The News Reports adds that Dr. Strand and her team concluded that seniors who have diabetes also have sleeping problems related to difficulty in breathing at night. The more sleeping disturbance they experience, the higher their diabetes risk is. However, insomnia did not show any consistent link to diabetes risk.

Sleep and metabolism researcher Dr. Eve Van Cauter from the University of Chicago told Reuters that the findings of the study suggest that if sleep quality is improved in seniors, their blood sugar may also be improved, resulting reduced chances of diabetes. It can help physicians to create a specific program to monitor and improve the health of affected seniors.

The study was published online in the journal Diabetes Care.