Sleep duration and regularity → Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)
You can buy a continuous glucose monitor or you can sleep. One of these has a trial behind it.
Randomized trial · High confidence · N=11
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Still read the caveats.
Mechanism
Reduced insulin sensitivity after sleep restriction is one of the more reliable experimental findings in this atlas. It is a lifestyle→biology arrow that does not need a wellness brand.
Caveats
Recovery sleep reverses much of the acute effect. Chronic shift work is a different exposure.
Effect
qualitative. Same Spiegel 1999 protocol: sleep debt impaired glucose tolerance.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Sleep duration and regularity → Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-sleep-insulin (atlas updated 2026-08-31).
Papers
- Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function
K. Spiegel, R. Leproult, E. Van Cauter · 1999 · The Lancet