The tiny habit that many of us do may cause gestational diabetes - voila! health

2023-03-23T08:22:58.749Z

Gestational diabetes is a condition that can be controlled relatively easily, but when it is not under control, the situation already looks different. A new study found a factor that increases the risk of this phenomenon

Iris Cole interviews Prof. Rivi Tauman on sleep disorders - causes and treatment (Walla system)

Reading into the wee hours of the night or scrolling your phone under the covers are common bedtime habits, but new research shows that pregnant women should turn off these light sources earlier to reduce their risk of developing gestational diabetes.

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the UK, gestational diabetes affects at least four to five out of 100 women during pregnancy.

In this situation, less sugar reaches the cells through the insulin and you have to pay attention to eat a small meal every 3 hours because the body has difficulty breaking down the sugar.

If the condition is not under control it can lead to complications for the mother and the baby.

Now a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Maternal Fetal Medicine has revealed that pregnant women who are exposed to higher levels of light in the three hours before bed are at a higher risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy.

suppresses melatonin

"Light at night may be an unrecognized risk for acquiring a serious pregnancy complication," said Dr. Min-hee Kim, lead author of the study from Northwestern University. Among other

studies, researchers have previously found that people who work shifts are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, While greater exposure to external artificial light at night has also been linked to an increased risk of the disease. It is believed that exposure to light at night suppresses levels of a hormone called melatonin, disrupts the body's internal clock and affects various metabolic processes, such as regulating blood sugar levels. "Although we cannot prove

this From this observational study, similar mechanisms may play a role in pregnant women," Kim said.

5 women out of 100 suffer from gestational diabetes.

A pregnant woman (Photo: ShutterStock)

Between 2011 and 2013, Kim and her team asked 741 US women who were in their second trimester of pregnancy to wear light sensors on their wrists and complete a daily sleep diary for about a week. The researchers divided the participants into three equal-sized groups based on their median exposure to dim light at three The hours before bed.

The results reveal that 16 of the 247 women who spent only about 1.7 hours in dim light developed gestational diabetes, compared to 12 of those who spent about 2.2 hours in dim light, and three of those who spent about 2.6 hours in dim light. Although only a small number of women developed gestational diabetes, the results revealed a trend.

"Women who spent the least amount of time in dim light were five times less likely to develop gestational diabetes compared to those who spent the most time in dim light," Kim said. The researchers say there was a connection even when factors such as age were taken into account. , the quality and duration of sleep, the body mass index and the amount of light the participants were exposed to during the day.