Counting More Sheep

One Sleepless Night Can Induce Insulin Resistance in Healthy People - ScienceDaily.com

I briefly touched on the subject of sleep and glucose control here. The researchers in this case state that "just one night of short sleep duration can induce insulin resisitance."

The lead author of the study goes on to state:

"Our data indicate that insulin sensitivity is not fixed in healthy subjects, but depends on the duration of sleep in the preceding night," said Donga. "In fact it is tempting to speculate that the negative effects of multiple nights of shortened sleep on glucose tolerance can be reproduced, at least in part, by just one sleepless night."

Just one more piece of the puzzle.

Related reading:

How Much Do You Need to Sleep Every Night to Prevent Weight Gain? - Mercola.com

Too Much Or Too Little Sleep Increases Risk Of Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

You are getting verrrrrry sleeeepy.....

In the past 24-36 hours I have seen a substantial increase in both fasting and post-prandial glucose readings. Only two things have changed in that time frame.

• Not ingesting my usual ~3g/day of fish oil
• Only getting ~ 5 hours of sleep the last 2 nights

The fish oil could have a role - although I would believe it to be very minor if anything - due to upsetting the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. I tend to believe that was more at play a week back or so where I had a ~48 hour window of elevated readings after ingesting a serious amount of bacon the few days prior to those readings - but not so much now.
I think the larger culprit may be - hopefully - the lack of sleep I have gotten in the past 48 hours. Then today in my inbox I find this - How Much Do You Need to Sleep Every Night to Prevent Weight Gain? (Mercola.com). The article states:

In one study, researchers found people who received
only four hours of sleep a night for two nights experienced:

• 18 percent reduction in leptin
• 28 percent increase in ghrelin

Well, if such a short period of sleep deprivation can effect these two hormones to such a degree - and knowing how inter-connected the endocrine system is even in our current feable understanding of it - then it's not far fetched that it would also have a marked effect on other hormones such as insulin, glucogon, etc.
Some may see these changes in leptin and ghrelin as unhealthy or some defect at first glance - but maybe not?
If you put stock in the premise that food is medicine - maybe this is simply the bodies' acute response to compensate for the sleep deprivation in order to maintain homeostasis?
"You aren't getting enough rest and repair through sleep, so I am going to increase your appetite to ingest more nutrients to try and make up the difference!"
Just as it is a normal, healthy response by the body to release insulin after ingesting carbohydrates - maybe these leptin and ghrelin changes work in a similar fashion? Maybe it only becomes unhealthy or damaging when we never remove the underlying stimulus for their occurance...and the changes progress from being ACUTE - to CHRONIC?!
And then - Frequent Napping Linked to Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults - ScienceDaily.com. Again, maybe the napping is a natural response to compensate for a lack of sleep? Maybe the correlation with diabetes stems from a variety of factors - ones that would be common in a lifestyle with sleep deprivation?
Too often it seems we mistake and misunderstand the workings of the bodies' responses in terms of acute vs. chronic!
I will be concentrating on getting back to a full-nights sleep tonight and see what happens.

A Few Observations and Today's Numbers...

Morning Temp: 97.3*

Fasting Glucose: 183*

* Due to Monday being an early work day, I only got about 5 hours of sleep compared to the usual 9 or so. I usually have my lowest readings monday mornings due to less time for gluconeogenesis to occur. Not sure what's up with the drop in temp.

Bodyweight was already up to 197 this morning; up approximately 13 lbs. from my lowest of 184ish within the past month. Up 8 lbs. in the last week since starting my sorry excuse version of HED. Bodyfat was only up 2% to 15.5 measured with bioimpedance. The weight increase is most likely a large reason why training yesterday felt so easy. Really easy. A welcome change after getting weaker and weaker over the past few months.

Some interesting observations....

• The 183 this morning is only 22 points higher than the 161 from last monday(1/4) with the same sleep parameters despite....
• last week(1/3) I took 15 units of novalin-r throughout the day as compared to only 10 yesterday.
• Additionally on 1/3 I consumed at one time or another meals containing a pear, a handful of grapes, 1 metabolic drive bar and about 3 handfuls of chocolate covered raisins.
• Overall, yesterday I ingested 130g more carbohydrates, 1200 more calories, and used 5 units less novalin-r as compared to 1 week ago; yet had a fasted reading the following morning only 22 points higher.

Just comparing the last 2 days....

• total calories were about the same
• ingested approximately 48g more carbohydrates on 1/10 as compared to 1/9
• used 10 units of novalin-r on 1/10 as compared to 15 on 1/9
• last 2 hour post-prandial reading of the day was 107 points lower on 1/10 as compared to 1/9 despite using less insulin and eating more carbohydrates
• fasting level for the morning following 1/10 was 34 points lower than the morning following 1/9; again despite using less insulin and eating more carbohydrates

I ran into the Doc already this morning, and will be picking up my labs later today and posting the results here. He hinted they were pretty poor, which I was expecting. After a brief conversation, he is of the opinion I have more of an issue not producing enough insulin; as opposed to being resistant to it. If true it probably would not spell good news for the HED experiement, but time will tell. Odd to develop such a thing this late in life it would seem? Surely with all the athletics I played growing up had it been present earlier it would have manifested in some way? No family history either. Not the type of special I was going for!
Back to the order of things.....
Meal #1
- 4 sausage patties
- 1 large baked potatoe
- 1 piece Ezekial Cinn/Raisin Bread
- 3 pats butter
- 500mg metformin
1 Hour Reading: 326
2 Hour Reading: 371 WTF! (followed by 5 units novalin-r)
Meal #2
- 4 oz. rotisserie chicken
- 2 pieces Ezekial Cinn/Raisin Bread
- 2 pats butter
- 1/2 Metabolic Drive bar
1 Hour Reading: In a meeting; missed
2 Hour Reading: 309
Random reading 4 hours later 30 min. before meal #3: 250
Meal #3
- 4 coleman hotdogs
- 1 piece Ezekial Bread
- 1 ear corn on cob
- 12 oz. baked red potatoes
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 pat butter
- 1/2 Metabolic Drive Bar
- 5oomg metformin( I think?!)
1 Hour Reading: 329
2 Hour Reading: 332
Meal #4 ( 5 units novalin about 30 min. prior)
- 1/4 lb grass fed beef
- 1 oz provolone cheese
- 5 large asparagus spears
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 piece Ezekial Bread
- 1 pat butter
- 1 1/4 cup Panera Broc/Cheddar Soup
- 12 oz pan fried potatoes (olive oil)
- 2 oz. yellow onion
- 1/4 Tablespoon organic PB
- 2 thin slices prosciutto
1 Hour Reading: 307
2 Hour Reading: 356 (followed by the usual 15 units lantus and bed)
Daily Totals: 4950 kcal

• fat: 306g
• carb: 352g
• protein: 192g

Now that's some eatin'! Let's see if I pay for it tommorrow morning....