Optimal sleep duration for diabetes prevention is named

The analysis revealed that the relationship between sleep and health has the form of an inverted curve, where 7 hours and 18 minutes became the ideal point. If a person sleeps less than this time, each additional hour of sleep is beneficial and increases the eGDR index. However, as soon as the duration of rest exceeds this threshold, its excess begins to work against the body. Researchers have noticed that excessive sleep is associated with a decrease in eGDR, which is especially pronounced in women and people in the age group from 40 to 59 years.

The authors of the work paid special attention to the habit of compensating for lack of sleep on weekends. The effect of this practice turned out to be directly dependent on how a person slept during the week. For those who constantly lack sleep on weekdays, an additional 1-2 hours of sleep on Saturday and Sunday really benefit by improving insulin sensitivity. However, for people whose daily sleep already exceeds the optimal threshold, getting more than two hours of sleep on weekends is associated with a noticeable deterioration in metabolic parameters.

Scientists warn of a potential vicious circle where metabolic disorders and abnormal sleep feed off each other. A poor state of carbohydrate metabolism can in itself provoke both too short and excessively long sleep, which further only exacerbates metabolic problems. Although the study was observational, it clearly indicates the importance of a stable regime for maintaining health.