Clock watching uncovers one of the reasons why beta cells fail in diabetes

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How to preserve beta function so you stop diabetes progression

Pancreatic clocks tick better when spend time in the dark. Unfortunately, being IN THE DARK, doesn’t always happen, light at night is commonplace.

Your sugar levels are on the high side…………..

Maybe you’ve already got a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, maybe you know it’s coming, you’re pre-diabetic.

At this point, your focus is on keeping those sugar levels in the normal range, because ALL HELL breaks loose in the body, when sugar levels climb.

But, you need to also help your beta cells.

They need LIFE SUPPORT.

Beta cells on LIFE SUPPORT

The more of them that give up the ghost, the bigger your sugar troubles.

So how can you preserve the beta cells you still have ?

Don’t overwork them, by loading up on too many carbs and give them a good night’s sleep.

8 hours is not enough

A good night’s sleep, starts by getting into bed at an appropriate hour, not getting enough sleep, definitely impacts your ability to control your sugar levels, but turning in early, might not be enough.

Researchers from the University of California have found, beta cells need to be, IN THE DARK.

When beta cells are forced to sleep, with the lights on, they don’t perform at their best. And this can make a big difference to your glucose tolerance. In the short-term. And long-term.

A glow in the dark clock

Just like your world runs on a clock, so does your body.

World time is set by what the sun is doing at the Greenwich Meridian.

BODY TIME is set by what the sun is doing too, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), located in your brain, correlates the amount of light, falling on retinal ganglion cells with body function. This information is then passed to all the body parts stuck in the dark – so they too can synch their clocks.

Pretty much every body part has a clock.

Seeing the clocks is tricky………….but it can be done.

A glow in the dark pancreas clock

The team made one of the molecular components of the body’s clock system, the PER1 protein, glow in the dark, using a little genetic engineering……..

This glow in the dark clock allowed them to watch the pancreas clock tick.

It was while watching this clock, the team discovered, how well the clocked ticked, depended on how much light, the owner of the clock, was being exposed to at night.

A clock with tick but less tock

In the pancreatic islets of animals that experienced 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, the clock ticked and tocked, to a regular rhythm.

This didn’t happen in animals exposed to light at night.

The clock still ticked, but not quite as loudly. You can see this here, the clock waves are different.

It seems, pancreatic clocks tick better when they’re put in the dark.

Unfortunately, being IN THE DARK, doesn’t always happen. When we climb into bed, we turn off the lights, but the lights in the neighbourhood, don’t have an off switch.

Being exposed to light at night is commonplace.

Does it matter ?

Clock ticking and insulin release

When the team explored further, they discovered that insulin release, in response to glucose was impaired in the clocks that had lost their rhythm.

This mirrors the problem in diabetes.

When pancreatic cells are slow to respond to glucose, this allows sugar levels to spike and results in T-R-O-U-B-L-E !

This research suggests beta cells, in rats at least, need time in the dark.

Odds are, so do human beta cells.

Support your beta cells

Are you sleeping in the dark ?

Your night valet, melatonin is a wimp. He is afraid of light, even tiny amounts, that might not be enough to interfere with your sleeping, can suppress his activity, because instead of being out and about, he is stuck in the pineal gland.

This adversely impacts your body’s clocks.

And if the pancreatic clock, loses it’s tick, it impacts how well your beta cells function, which when you’re struggling with dysglycemia, is a train smash !

Help you beta cells by giving them an opportunity to sleep in the dark, by blacking out your bedroom.

NOTE : If you can’t block out the light, by closing doors and hanging thick lined curtaining or blinds, slap on an eye mask, so you limit the light you’re being exposed to.

Consequences of Exposure to Light at Night on the Pancreatic Islet Circadian Clock and Function in Rats. Diabetes (2013) 62 : 3469-3478. Jingyi Qian, Gene D. Block, Christopher S. Colwell, and Aleksey V. Matveyenko.