Findings of a recent study show that men who are short or long sleepers have lower insulin sensitivity, as reported by Healio.

Rutters and colleagues analyzed data from 788 healthy adults (57% women; mean age, 44 years) participating in the European EGIR-RISC study. Researchers measured sleep and physical activity with a single-axis accelerometer, which participants wore only while awake for between 3 and 8 days; insulin sensitivity and beta cell function were measured with a hyperinsulinemic-euglycmic clamp and 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Researchers used multiple linear regression to analyze the association between sleep duration, insulin sensitivity and beta cell function. Participants also completed sleep and lifestyle questionnaires.

Adults in the cohort had an average sleep duration of 7.3 hours. Researchers found that men who were short or long sleepers had lower insulin sensitivity compared to men who sleep about 8 hours, observing a positive, U-shaped association between sleep duration and insulin sensitivity. No such association was observed in women.

In women, researchers observed a negative, U-shaped association between sleep duration and beta cell glucose sensitivity. No such association was observed in men.

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