AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 271, Issue 2 E261-E270, Copyright © 1996 by American Physiological Society
Relationships between sleep quality and glucose regulation in normal humans
A. J. Scheen, M. M. Byrne, L. Plat, R. Leproult and E. Van Cauter
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
To define the effects of sleep on glucose regulation, we analyzed plasma
glucose levels, insulin secretion rates (ISR), and plasma growth hormone
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 presleep 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 rapid-eye-movement 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 bed rest 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 one-half. Thus sleep has important effects on
brain and tissue glucose utilization, suggesting that sleep disturbances
may adversely affect glucose tolerance.
