A bad night’s sleep doesn’t just make you groggy the next day. It can also leave you vulnerable to a component of type 2 diabetes, according to Dutch researchers.

The scientists found that lack of sleep can trigger insulin resistance, a big part of Type 2 diabetes.

Insulin is a hormone that’s essential for the body to metabolize food properly, and a substantive, long-term resistance to it can trigger serious diabetic symptoms such as eye, heart and kidney damage. (People with type 1 diabetes don’t produce any insulin at all, while those with type 2 produce some, but not enough.)

Read 6 Ways to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

“Sleep duration has shortened considerably in Western societies in the past decade, and simultaneously, there has been an increase in the prevalence of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Esther Donga of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She said the increase in sleepless and type 2 diabetes may not be a coincidence.

According to AOL Health, the researchers compared the level of insulin resistance in a group of healthy subjects who slept eight hours one night, and then four hours the next. As a result, Donga said, the researchers found that level of insulin resistance in the subjects varied according to the amount of sleep they had the night before. It’s not yet certain how serious repeated sleepless nights can be.

The research also has implications for people who already have diabetes. Donga said that sleeping longer hours may decrease insulin resistance in those patients. (AOL Health)

More News: Matt Lauer's secret obsession...