People who sleep less than six hours a night are at greater risk of blood sugar problems that can lead to diabetes, according to research presented by scientists at the University of Buffalo in New York. They found that those who lose sleep during the working week are five times more likely to develop blood sugar problems.

It’s thought that hormonal changes caused by too much or too little sleep can affect the body’s metabolism and appetite control. The study found that those sleeping fewer than six hours a night from Sunday to Thursday over six years were 4.5 times more likely to develop the blood sugar abnormality known as impaired fasting glucose compared to those sleeping between six and eight hours. The condition – which is often called pre-diabetes – is caused by the body not producing enough insulin causing blood sugar levels to rise above normal in the morning. The findings could not be explained by genes and scientists believe they are most likely due to lack of sleep.

 

Around a third of British adults regularly sleep for five hours or less a night. The healthiest amount of sleep, according to researchers, is seven hours a night.

Women who are stressed in pregnancy are more likely to have babies who suffer from asthma and allergies (according to a study from Harvard Medical School in Boston and presented earlier this year at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in Toronto).

Researchers found that unborn babies exposed to stress before birth have increased tendencies to react to allergy triggers such as dust mites. It is thought that the developing immune system of unborn babies can be changed by maternal stress, probably through stress hormones, like cortisol. The results of the study held true regardless of a mother’s race, class, education or smoking history. This research supports the notion that stress can be thought of as a kind of social pollutant that can influence the immune system.

The dangers to an unborn child are even greater if a pregnant women is stressed, possibly by financial and/or relationship problems, and regularly uses the mobile phone. Another recent study from the University of California, Los Angeles – the first of its kind, covering more than 13,000 women – has shown that using handsets, even as little as two or three times a day, is enough to raise the risk of having children with hyperactivity and emotional problems. Letting children use mobiles before the age of seven also puts them at risk, researchers warn. The study was published in the medical journal Epidemiology last year.

Researchers found that women who used phones when pregnant were 54 per cent more likely to report behavioural problems in their children, including hyperactivity and emotional difficulties. Problems were even greater in children whose mothers had used mobiles when they were pregnant and then were allowed to use phones before the age of seven. In fact, they were 80 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems than youngsters who had not been exposed to mobile phone use at all.

 

The risks increased with the amount of phone use and potential radiation, suggesting a clear link between mobile phone exposure and behavioural problems; although the researchers warned that there were other possible explanations for behavioural problems that need to be taken into account, such as poor diet and maternal neglect.