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Do you find yourself waking up each night, unable to stay asleep? Maybe you have trouble falling asleep in the first place and lie awake for hours. If you often can’t fall asleep or stay asleep, you might wonder if your sleep issues are in any way related to your type 2 diabetes.
Insomnia isn’t just trouble sleeping. Issues from poor sleep quality can leak into your waking life too. You might feel tired all day or find it difficult to concentrate. Sleep deprivation can even damage your immune system and increase the risk of diabetes and related conditions like hypertension (high blood pressure).
Chronic insomnia (sleep problems that last three months or longer) can complicate life with diabetes, a condition that often requires a consistent daily routine.
DiabetesTeam members often describe how poor sleep or a lack of sleep consistency affects their quality of life and overall health. “I’m having serious problems with insomnia. I’m getting so frustrated with this, and it’s causing me to not want to exercise because I have no energy to do so,” shared a member.
“My insomnia seems to run in cycles,” said another. “I have several nights I sleep good, and then several nights I play musical beds between my bed, the recliner, and finally the couch. On those nights/days I am not as rested.”
Other members have come to DiabetesTeam for advice on their insomnia. One member asked, “I have had so much trouble sleeping for quite a while now. I have been finding it very hard to function, and I even hallucinate at times. Does anyone have any ideas that could help me sleep?”
Members responded with their best tips for getting better sleep. “Try some chamomile tea, turn off the TV, and listen to sleep music. Have your last cup of coffee by 2 p.m. and take a walk before bed,” one responded. Another added, “I would also talk with your doctor. When I had trouble sleeping, my doctor rearranged my meds. I take the ones that make you drowsy at night, so I have no need for sleeping pills.”
DiabetesTeam members have also pondered whether their diabetes causes their insomnia, or if it’s the other way around. “I had always thought that the insomnia came first and exacerbated the diabetes. Didn’t know it was the other way around,” said a member.
Another shared, “Although I’m loath to blame diabetes for my ailments, I noticed that I only seemed to get insomnia after I got diabetes.”
In truth, diabetes and insomnia can affect each other in a cycle. Insomnia can reduce insulin sensitivity and lead to high blood sugar levels, even raising the risk of diabetes in people who don’t already have it. Research shows that people with diabetes who don’t get enough sleep have higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.
Diabetes symptoms and nighttime blood sugar fluctuations can disrupt your sleep and contribute to insomnia.
Some common diabetes symptoms can make it difficult to get good sleep. They might wake you up in the middle of the night or keep you from falling asleep.
Being extremely thirsty is a common early sign of diabetes. It happens when your glucose (blood sugar) levels get high, and your kidneys work harder to filter your blood. The kidneys can struggle to keep up with the overload and can pull water from your body’s tissues, which leads to dehydration.
This thirst can be intense enough to prevent a good night’s sleep. If you’re thirsty all night long, you might repeatedly wake up to get more water and quench that thirst.
Frequent urination is another early diabetes symptom that goes hand in hand with thirst. When you drink more fluids to quench your thirst from overloaded kidneys, you tend to need to urinate often — even at night when you’d rather be sleeping.
“It seems I wake up every hour on the hour and use the bathroom like a racehorse,” commented a DiabetesTeam member.
Other DiabetesTeam members have cited temperature concerns that keep them up at night, like hot flashes and night sweats. “One cause of insomnia for me is that during the night, I get hot. Not night sweats, but a dry heat,” noted a member.
“I end up undressing and kicking away all the blankets at night,” commented another.
According to Cleveland Clinic, vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats most often affect women in menopause. But night sweats and hot flashes can also come from diabetes, related sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or as a side effect of hypoglycemic agents (medications that treat low blood sugar in diabetes).
Chronic insomnia is its own sleep disorder, but sometimes insomnia symptoms arise from other sleep disorders. Your insomnia symptoms may not be directly linked to diabetes, but instead linked to sleep disorders related to diabetes.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological condition that gives you the irresistible urge to move your legs at night, driven by uncomfortable sensations like itching or electric shock. These symptoms can cause sleep disturbances and prevent quality sleep.
People with diabetes are at an increased risk of RLS than people without diabetes — about 25 percent of people with diabetes have it compared to less than 10 percent of the general population.
Researchers aren’t fully sure what causes RLS, but they believe it’s extra common among people with diabetes because of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, or diabetes-related nerve damage. RLS may also occur at higher rates in people with diabetes because of iron deficiency anemia, which many people with diabetes have.
Sleep apnea, especially OSA, is another sleep disorder commonly seen in people with diabetes — about 70 percent of people with type 2 diabetes also have OSA. OSA is a sleep disorder that repeatedly disrupts your breathing at night.
There are a few different types of sleep apnea, but in OSA, you stop breathing because the tissues in your airways collapse or narrow and block the flow of air. This causes your blood oxygen levels to drop and your brain to reflexively wake you up. Your brain wakes you up just enough to restart your breathing, but often not enough that you’re conscious that you’ve awoken.
Whether or not you notice them, these frequent wake-ups prevent you from getting a good night’s rest and can lead to daytime sleepiness. And, just like chronic insomnia, OSA can increase insulin resistance and raise the risk of diabetes in people who don’t already have it.
Since diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, people with diabetes need to keep cholesterol in check. Some may be taking statins to help, and insomnia is a well-known side effect of statins. If you have insomnia while you’re on statins, ask your doctor about other options for managing cholesterol.
Talk to your doctor if you have trouble falling or staying asleep at night or if you frequently wake up feeling exhausted. Depending on the cause of your insomnia, the solution may be as simple as adjusting your diabetes medications or treatment plan in some way. When your diabetes is well-managed, you’re less likely to experience symptoms that keep you up at night.
Your doctor can also help you manage related sleep disorders if you have them. Some research has shown OSA treatment to not only improve sleep but also to lower blood sugar and insulin resistance for some people.
Your healthcare team can work together to find out why you have trouble sleeping and give you tips for better rest.
On DiabetesTeam, people share their experiences with diabetes, get advice, and find support from others who understand.
How often do you have trouble falling or staying asleep? Let others know in the comments below.
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