Research

Hormonal

In middle-aged women, short sleep duration is not significantly associated with incident diabetes; instead, long sleep duration (≥9 hours) shows a non-significant trend toward increased risk.

For middle-aged women, the link between short sleep and diabetes is not as clear-cut as it is for men. This study suggests that long sleep (≥9 hours) might be a marker for underlying health issues or risk, rather than short sleep being the primary driver. Women should focus on healthy sleep duration (7-8 hours) and consult a doctor if they consistently need very long sleep, as it may indicate other metabolic or health concerns.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Short or long sleep duration or sleep complaints did not influence the risk of new diabetes in women... Women reporting new diabetes at follow-up reported long sleep duration (≥9 h per night) more often at baseline than women not developing diabetes (7.9 vs. 2.4%, P < 0.05).
Lena Mallon et al. · Diabetes Care · 2005

Why this rating

Same robust longitudinal design as N1, but the specific finding for women is less statistically definitive for short sleep (non-significant) compared to the strong positive finding in men.

Source

High Incidence of Diabetes in Men With Sleep Complaints or Short Sleep Duration

Lena Mallon et al. · Diabetes Care · 2005

DOI 10.2337/diacare.28.11.2762

cohort · n=1244Cited 387×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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