【Takungpao News 2006-3-12】

After more than a decade of follow-up research, American researchers have found that both too much and too little sleep in men may trigger type 2 diabetes.

Researchers from Yale University reported in the latest issue of the American journal "Diabetes Care" that they began investigating the sleep patterns of over 1,100 middle-aged and elderly men between 1987 and 1989 to determine the relationship between sleep duration and diabetes. None of these individuals had diabetes at the start of the study.

After considering factors such as age, blood pressure, smoking history, and obesity, the researchers found that those who slept 7 to 8 hours per night were the healthiest. If the sleep duration was less than 6 hours per night, the risk of developing diabetes increased by about 2 times; if the sleep duration exceeded 8 hours, the risk of developing diabetes increased by more than 3 times.

Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 11

Source: http://www. takungpao. com/ news/ 06/ 03/ 12/ ZM- 537238. htm