Prolonged sleep restriction affects glucose metabolism in healthy young men

Abstract

This study identifies the effects of sleep restriction and subsequent recovery sleep on glucose homeostasis, serum leptin levels, and feelings of subjective satiety. Twenty-three healthy young men were allocated to a control group (CON) or an experimental (EXP) group. After two nights of 8h in bed (baseline, BL), EXP spent 4h in bed for five days (sleep restriction, SR), followed by two nights of 8h (recovery, REC). CON spent 8h in bed throughout the study. Blood samples were taken after the BL, SR, and REC period. In EXP, insulin and insulin-to-glucose ratio increased after SR. IGF-1 levels increased after REC. Leptin levels were elevated after both SR and REC; subjective satiety remained unaffected. No changes were observed in CON. The observed increase of serum IGF-1 and insulin-to-glucose ratio indicates that sleep restriction may result in an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes. © 2010 Wessel M. A. van Leeuwen et al.