Sleep disorder is related to many comorbidities, such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension. Because of its increasing prevalence rate, it has become a global problem that seriously threatens people’s health. Various forms of sleep disorder can cause increased insulin resistance and/or decreased sensitivity, thus affecting the occurrence, development and prognosis of diabetes. However, sleep health has not been paid attention to in recent years. Therefore, this article summarizes the findings of the correlation between sleep disorder and diabetes mellitus in recent years, by elaborating the relationship between various types of sleep disorder (including sleep apnea syndrome) and diabetes mellitus, as well as their mechanisms and intervention measures, in order to enhance the attention of clinical workers to sleep health, and to provide basis for reducing the risk of diabetes.