When trying to prevent diabetes or manage blood sugar, most people focus primarily on diet—cutting back on sweets, white rice, refined bread, and other high-glycemic foods. However, what you eat is only part of the equation. Everyday routines matter just as much, and several common habits may be quietly increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Kim Ji-eun, an internal medicine specialist, recently highlighted "five lifestyle habits that can lead to diabetes" in a video shared on social media. The pitfalls include: 1) inadequate sleep, 2) late-night snacking, 3) eating too fast, 4) drinking sugary beverages instead of water, and 5) lying down immediately after meals.
How Sleep Loss and Late-Night Meals Impair Insulin Function
"When you don’t get enough sleep, insulin function declines and appetite increases, making blood sugar significantly harder to control," Kim explained.
Research published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association, confirms that sleep deprivation reduces insulin sensitivity while altering appetite-regulating hormones such as leptin and ghrelin, driving increased hunger.
Late-night eating compounds the issue by causing blood glucose to remain elevated while sleeping. During nighttime hours, natural levels of melatonin—the hormone that promotes sleep—rise, which suppresses insulin secretion and impairs the body's ability to clear glucose from the bloodstream.
Eating Speed and Liquid Sugars Trigger Rapid Glucose Spikes
Eating speed also plays a major role in glucose control and appetite regulation. "It takes time for the brain to register fullness, so eating quickly easily leads to overeating and causes post-meal blood sugar to spike sharply," Kim noted.
A seven-year study conducted by researchers at Kanazawa Medical University in Japan, published in Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental, tracked 2,050 middle-aged men and found that fast eaters faced a 1.97-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to slow eaters.
Replacing water with sugary beverages is equally damaging. Liquid sugars require no mastication, provide low satiety, and absorb rapidly into the bloodstream. A meta-analysis led by University of Cambridge researchers evaluating 17 prospective cohort studies found that each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with an 18% higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Even after adjusting for body fat, the risk remained 13% higher.
Why Post-Meal Movement Matters
Finally, lying down or sitting immediately after eating misses a prime window for blood sugar management. "Instead of sitting or lying down right after a meal, even a 10-minute walk can make a major difference in blood sugar control," Kim advised.
A 2016 randomized crossover trial published in Diabetologia demonstrated that taking a 10-minute walk immediately following each main meal lowered post-meal blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients far more effectively than a single 30-minute walk at an arbitrary time of day.
