Research
Hormonal
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) causes insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes through intermittent hypoxia, independent of obesity, via mechanisms involving sympathetic activation, oxidative stress, and inflammation.
If you have OSA, treat it. CPAP therapy improves glucose control, especially with >4 hours/night use. This reduces insulin resistance and T2DM risk, independent of weight loss.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
the severity of nocturnal hypoxia in non-obese OSA patients was associated with insulin resistance [232], suggesting that the OSA-related hypoxia-reoxygenation sequences play a major role in this metabolic dysfunction. ... Meta-analysis of prospective studies confirmed that moderate to severe OSA increases the risk of development of T2DM by approx 60% [237].
Why this rating
Supported by large longitudinal studies, meta-analyses, and mechanistic rodent/human studies.
Source
The impact of sleep disorders on glucose metabolism: endocrine and molecular mechanisms
Anne Briançon‐Marjollet et al. · Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome · 2015
DOI 10.1186/s13098-015-0018-3
narrative_reviewCited 304×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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