According to research, a disordered sleep pattern — meaning the amount of sleep you get varies by 30 to 60 minutes or more from night to night —  puts you on the path to health problems.

A 2019 study found that getting different amounts of shut-eye each night increases your risks for obesity, elevated LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and blood sugar, and other metabolic disorders, all of which are risk factors for dementia, cancer, heart attack, and stroke.

And now a study reveals the specific link between sleep patterns and Type 2 diabetes.

The research, which was published in the journal Diabetes Care, looked at the sleep patterns of 84,000 middle-age people for a week and then followed them for seven years. People with the greatest irregularities in their sleep patterns were 34% more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those with consistent sleep times.

If you're sleeping five hours one night, seven the next, another new study may help you establish a consistent routine.

It turns out that people who get up off the couch every 30 minutes for three minutes of activity over a four-hour stretch in the evening are able to sleep for 30 minutes longer than those who just sit around. The activities the researchers had them do were chair squats, calf raises, and standing knee raises with straight-leg hip extensions.

Set a go-to-bed time seven to eight hours before you want or need to wake up — and stick to it.

And don't be sedentary; moderate exercise promotes quality sleep.