A Week of Sleep Restriction Does Not Affect Nighttime Glucose Concentration in Healthy Adult Males When Slow-Wave Sleep Is Maintained.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial
PubMed 36146310 · doi:10.3390/s22186962
What was done
Healthy males were randomly assigned to either 9 h in bed (n = 23, mean age 24.0 years) or 5 h in bed (n = 18, mean age 21.9 years) for seven consecutive nights following a 9 h baseline night in a laboratory setting. Daytime activity included three 10-minute treadmill bouts at 4 km·h⁻¹. On the baseline night and night seven, sleep was assessed with polysomnography and nighttime interstitial fluid glucose was monitored with continuous glucose monitors.
What was found
On night seven, the 5 h group had less total sleep (292 min vs. 465 min) and less REM sleep (81 min vs. 118 min) than the 9 h group. Slow-wave sleep did not differ (119 min in the 5 h group vs. 120 min in the 9 h group), and nighttime sleep glucose concentrations were identical between groups (5.1 mmol·L⁻¹ vs. 5.1 mmol·L⁻¹).
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that short-term sleep restriction does not inherently disrupt nocturnal glucose concentration when slow-wave sleep duration is maintained.
Limits
The study included only healthy young males with a small sample size (n = 41 total). Circulating insulin was not measured, so potential compensatory hyperinsulinemia maintaining normal glucose levels could not be evaluated, and daytime glucose responses were not reported.
Cited by
- contradicts Sleep restriction to five hours per night causes the brain to adapt by rapidly increasing the amount and speed of entry into deep sleep and REM cycles.