Relationships between sleep quality and glucose regulation in
normal man.
Scheen, Andr[acute]e J., Maria M. Byrne, Laurence Plat, Rachel
Leproult, Eve Van Cauter.
Section of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, University of
Chicago, Illinois 60637 and Division of Diabetes, Nutrition and
Metabolic Diseases, Department of Medicine, Universit[acute]e de
Li[grave]ege, B-4000 Belgium (A.J.S.).
APStracts 3:0082E, 1996.
To define the effects of sleep on glucose regulation, we analyzed
plasma glucose levels, insulin secretion rates (ISR), plasma GH and
cortisol levels in normal subjects receiving a constant glucose
infusion during nocturnal sleep, nocturnal sleep deprivation and
daytime recovery sleep. Plasma glucose and ISR markedly increased
during early nocturnal sleep and returned to pre-sleep levels during
late sleep. These changes in glucose and ISR appeared to reflect the
predominance of slow-wave (SW) stages in early sleep and of REM and
Wake stages in late sleep. Major differences in glucose and ISR
profiles were observed during sleep deprivation as glucose and ISR
remained essentially stable during the first part of the night and
then decreased significantly, despite the persistence of bedrest and
constant glucose infusion. During daytime recovery sleep, SW stages
were increased, glucose levels peaked earlier than during nocturnal
sleep and the decreases of glucose and ISR in late sleep were reduced
by half. Thus, sleep has important effects on brain and tissue
glucose utilization, suggesting that sleep disturbances may adversely
affect glucose tolerance.
Received 10 November 1995; accepted in final form 18 March 1996.
APS Manuscript Number E533-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 23 April 96