According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 2.7 million—more than 11 percent of—African Americans above the age of 20 have diabetes. Now research has found that getting an adequate amount of deep sleep is a risk-lowering tactic.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that failing to sleep deeply for three consecutive nights can hamper the body’s ability to manage insulin.. Researchers found that adults in their 20s who had three nights of interrupted sleep had glucose and insulin metabolisms of people three times their age.

This study shows that the quality of sleep is as important as the quantity of sleep in its impact on the body’s ability to measure blood sugar levels. To improve your quality of sleep, read the National Sleep Foundation’s Am I Getting Good Sleep? guide.