Health, Longevity & Biohacking
Six Weeks of Mild Sleep Loss Triggers Insulin Resistance and Hypertension
Huberman Lab
Eating for Better Sleep & Foods that Improve Metabolic Health | Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge
"We saw that insulin resistance was increased after 6 weeks of sleep restriction compared to adequate sleep. We saw insulin sensitivity was reduced. It was worse actually in postmenopausal women compared to premenopausal women. We saw blood pressure was increased. So those cardiometabolic outcomes were adversely impacted in free-living, mild, sustained sleep restriction for 6 weeks."
In a free-living study where good sleepers reduced nightly sleep by just 1.5 hours for six weeks, Dr. St-Onge documented increased insulin resistance and elevated blood pressure. Postmenopausal women showed worse metabolic outcomes than premenopausal women. The study demonstrates that chronic mild sleep restriction, common in modern life, produces measurable cardiometabolic disease risk even without extreme sleep deprivation.
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Huberman Lab