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News
More sleep, more risk? A new study found that adults with type 2 diabetes who sleep 7 or more hours a night face a higher risk of developing diabetic nephropathy. Researchers say longer sleep may be a marker of underlying health vulnerability — not a direct cause of kidney disease. The findings were published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
More sleep isn't always better — at least for people with type 2 diabetes. A new study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society found that adults with type 2 diabetes who sleep 7 or more hours per night face a significantly higher risk of developing diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease). Researchers followed 678 adults aged 25–69 in Japan over a mean of 6 years, finding that nearly a third (31.7%) developed the condition.
Importantly, the researchers caution this is an observational study — longer sleep doesn't cause kidney disease. Instead, it may reflect an underlying physiological vulnerability, particularly in older adults. Unlike prior studies where longer sleepers tended to have higher BMI and worse metabolic profiles, this study's longer sleepers actually had lower BMI and LDL cholesterol levels, suggesting a different mechanism at play.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: For clinicians managing type 2 diabetes, sleep duration could become a simple, low-cost screening signal to flag patients who may need closer kidney health monitoring — especially older adults.
