People who don't get a good night's sleep of upto or over six hours are more likely to develop diabetes, according to U. S. researchers.

They said Wednesday people in a study who slept less than six hours were 4.5 times more likely to develop abnormal blood sugar readings in six years as against those who slept longer.

"This study supports growing evidence of the association of inadequate sleep with adverse health issues," said Lisa Rafalson of the University at Buffalo in New York, who presented her findings at the Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Several studies have shown negative health consequences related to getting too little sleep. In children, studies showed it raises the risk of obesity, depression and high blood pressure. In older adults, it increases the risk of falls. And in the middle aged, it raises the risk of infections, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Adults typically need between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rafalson and colleagues wanted to see if lack of sleep might be raising the risk for type 2 diabetes, the kind that is being driven by rising rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyles. It develops when the body makes too much insulin and does not efficiently use the insulin it makes, a condition known as insulin resistance.

The study, in which 1,455 people reported on their sleep habits, compared fasting glucose levels on people over a six-year period. The results were based on adjustments made for age, body mass index, glucose and insulin concentrations, heart rate, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes and symptoms of depression.

They identified 91 people whose blood sugar rose during the study period and compared them to 273 people whose glucose levels remained in the normal range.

They found the short sleepers were far more likely to develop impaired fasting glucose -- a condition that can lead to type 2 diabetes -- during the study period than those who slept six to eight hours.

(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)