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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Through-the-Wall Blood Sampling Method to Minimize Sleep Disruption in Clinical Settings
Published on: June 13, 2025
Prolonged sleep restriction affects glucose metabolism in healthy young men
Wessel M A van Leeuwen1, Christer Hublin, Mikael Sallinen
1Brain and Work Research Centre, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A, 00250 Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract:
This study identifies the effects of sleep restriction and subsequent recovery sleep on glucose homeostasis, serum leptin levels, and feelings of subjective satiety. Twenty-three healthy young men were allocated to a control group (CON) or an experimental (EXP) group. After two nights of 8 h in bed (baseline, BL), EXP spent 4 h in bed for five days (sleep restriction, SR), followed by two nights of 8 h (recovery, REC). CON spent 8 h in bed throughout the study. Blood samples were taken after the BL, SR, and REC period. In EXP, insulin and insulin-to-glucose ratio increased after SR. IGF-1 levels increased after REC. Leptin levels were elevated after both SR and REC; subjective satiety remained unaffected. No changes were observed in CON. The observed increase of serum IGF-1 and insulin-to-glucose ratio indicates that sleep restriction may result in an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes.
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