Research
Hormonal
Both short (<6-7 hours) and long (>9 hours) sleep durations are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), with short sleepers having approximately 2 times higher odds of prediabetes/T2DM and long sleepers having 60% higher odds compared to normal sleepers (7-8 hours).
Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Both short sleep (<6-7 hours) and long sleep (>9 hours) are associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Maintaining a consistent and adequate sleep duration is important for metabolic health and diabetes prevention.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Short sleepers (5–6 h/day) have 2 times higher odds of being diagnosed with prediabetes and T2DM, while long sleepers are almost at a 60% higher odds of developing T2DM, compared to normal sleepers (7–8 h/day) (Chaput et al. 2007b, Engeda et al. 2013).
Why this rating
Based on multiple meta-analyses of cohort studies with large sample sizes.
Source
The links between sleep duration, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus
Christina Antza et al. · Journal of Endocrinology · 2021
DOI 10.1530/joe-21-0155
narrative_reviewCited 262×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Short sleep duration (defined as <7 hours per night) is consistently associated with an increased risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in adults and children, with a dose-response relationship where shorter sleep correlates with higher risk.Good
- Short sleep duration negatively impacts the efficacy of weight loss interventions, resulting in less fat mass loss and greater weight regain after bariatric surgery compared to adequate sleep.Moderate
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