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Fitness & Health

19th Jan 2016

Proof that having a good, long lie-in can be good for your health

Tony Cuddihy

We welcome this news with open arms (and a drooling mouth).

It turns out that having a good, long lie-in is good for your health.

If your friends ever call you a lazy bas***d for only surfacing at 2pm, eating half a box of Weetabix before a late evening nap, tell them you’re just staving off the threat of diabetes.

That’s right – if you sleep for fewer than five hours a night, your chances of developing diabetes increases by around 16%.

However, two successive sleeps of ten hours or more can reverse this damage, along with a healthy diet and exercise.

“The knock-on effect of getting less than six hours of sleep is definitely related to the dietary intake during the day, as well as the actual sleep-deprivation which would increase your blood pressure and increase your risk of a lot of medical conditions,” said Dr. Anna Clarke from Diabetes Ireland.

“So it’s a dual whammy, there will be poor food choices alongside the actual health risk itself of having deprived sleep.”

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