A trial meant to test whether more sleep could help people with prediabetes ended up pointing somewhere else entirely: toward the hour at which they fell asleep. Among 196 adults who had been sleeping fewer than six and a half hours a night, those who drifted toward earlier bedtimes tended to shed a little weight, though blood sugar stayed unchanged. As with many such discoveries, the pattern invites curiosity more than certainty, since a link observed in a short study is not yet proof that the hour itself does the work.
Going to Bed an Hour Earlier May Aid Weight Loss in Prediabetes, Small NYU Trial Suggests
When we fall asleep, not just how much, may matter for weight loss.
Mark
The trial was about sleep length, but the interesting result is about timing. How did that happen?
Mimi
The team expected extending sleep to improve blood sugar and weight. It didn't. But when they pooled both groups, people who fell asleep earlier tended to lose more weight, about 1.3 pounds per hour earlier over eight weeks.
Luke
Worth being clear that this is an association. The authors say it doesn't prove earlier bedtime causes weight loss.
Mark
And the coaching itself didn't beat education alone?
Mimi
Right. Both groups lost weight, and the coached group didn't lose significantly more. Blood sugar didn't improve significantly in either.
Luke
Which makes the 1.3-pound figure fragile. The average shift was only about 12 minutes earlier, so the effect comes from a modest change.
Mark
What did the coaching accomplish?
Mimi
People reported better sleep quality and less daytime drowsiness, and they gradually went to bed earlier.
Luke
Those two measures leaned heavily on self-reported logs, so I'd hold them loosely.
Mark
Why might timing matter at all?
Mimi
The researchers point to the body clock: late-night light may trigger stress responses and hunger hormones, and insulin sensitivity is lowest late. Earlier sleep may also limit late eating.
Luke
That's a proposed mechanism, not something this trial tested. And eight weeks tells us nothing about whether people keep it up.
Il Polso
- A trial designed to show that more sleep would lower blood sugar instead found no improvement in glucose for anyone involved.
- Coached participants gradually moved their bedtimes, yet on average they fell asleep only about twelve minutes earlier.
- A separate look at the combined data revealed that each hour earlier to bed was linked to roughly 1.3 pounds of weight lost over eight weeks.
- Researchers are now weighing whether late-night light and mealtimes explain the pattern, but the eight-week window and self-reported sleep logs leave the central question unresolved.
A trial meant to test whether more sleep could help people with prediabetes ended up pointing somewhere else entirely: toward the hour at which they fell asleep. Among 196 adults who had been sleeping fewer than six and a half hours a night, those who drifted toward earlier bedtimes tended to shed a little weight, though blood sugar stayed unchanged. As with many such discoveries, the pattern invites curiosity more than certainty, since a link observed in a short study is not yet proof that the hour itself does the work.
A team at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing set out to see whether more sleep could help adults with prediabetes manage their blood sugar and lose weight. The study enrolled 196 adults who typically slept less than six and a half hours a night. All of them completed an eight-week lifestyle course covering diet, exercise and stress, and half also received coaching meant to nudge their bedtimes earlier, one small step at a time.
The original hypothesis did not hold. Neither group's blood sugar improved meaningfully, and the coached participants did not lose significantly more weight than those who received education alone. The coaching did bring real changes: people slept better, felt less daytime drowsiness, and gradually went to bed earlier, though only about twelve minutes earlier on average.
A separate analysis across both groups turned up the more intriguing finding. Each hour earlier that participants fell asleep was associated with about 1.3 pounds of weight loss. The researchers, led by Susan Kohl Malone, offered possible reasons, including reduced light exposure at night and eating aligned with the body's more favorable metabolic hours. Still, they are careful to say this is an association, not proof.
The limits are clear. Eight weeks is short, it is unknown whether earlier bedtimes can be kept or the weight kept off, and much of the sleep-quality data came from self-reporting. Longer trials that test bedtime timing directly will be needed to tell whether the hour we fall asleep truly matters, or whether it only travels alongside other changes.
A trial run out of the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing set out to test whether getting more sleep could help people with prediabetes control their blood sugar and lose weight. It did not turn out that way, but a separate look at the data turned up something else: the hour at which people fell asleep seemed to matter.
The researchers enrolled 196 adults diagnosed with prediabetes who typically slept fewer than 6.5 hours a night. Everyone took part in an eight-week lifestyle education course covering diet, exercise and stress. Half the participants also got behavioral coaching designed to move their bedtimes earlier in gradual steps.
To track what happened, the team used sensors, sleep logs and wrist-worn monitors to record blood sugar, sleep and activity. The results were published in the journal Nursing Research.
The headline hypothesis did not hold. Neither group showed significant improvement in blood sugar. Both lost weight, but the coached group did not lose significantly more than the group that received education alone. "While we expected that extending sleep would improve glucose levels and weight loss in adults with prediabetes who sleep for shorter periods, this wasn't the case in our study," said Susan Kohl Malone, an assistant professor at the nursing college and the study's lead author.
The coaching did change some things. Participants who received it reported better sleep quality and less daytime drowsiness, and they gradually began going to bed earlier. On average, though, they fell asleep only about 12 minutes earlier, according to Malone, and that shift produced no measurable improvement in blood sugar.
The weight finding came from a separate analysis across both groups combined. Participants who shifted their sleep earlier tended to lose more weight, with each hour earlier linked to roughly 1.3 pounds lost over the eight weeks. The researchers stress that this is an association and does not prove that an earlier bedtime causes weight loss.
They offered the body's internal clock as one possible explanation. Staying up late can mean more exposure to artificial light, which may activate the stress response and affect hormones that regulate hunger. Late hours also coincide with the time when insulin sensitivity is at its lowest. "In contrast, falling asleep earlier may limit late-night eating and better align food intake with the body's optimal metabolic window," Malone said. "When we fall asleep, not just how much we sleep, seems to be an important and overlooked factor for weight loss and metabolic health."
The limits are real. The trial lasted only eight weeks, so it is unclear whether people could keep earlier bedtimes or hold onto any weight loss over time. Although participants wore wrist monitors, measures such as sleep quality and daytime drowsiness relied heavily on self-reported logs.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, and carried out with researchers from the University of Delaware. Longer trials that test bedtime timing directly would be needed to learn whether the pattern reflects cause or coincidence.
Citazioni salienti
While we expected that extending sleep would improve glucose levels and weight loss in adults with prediabetes who sleep for shorter periods, this wasn't the case in our study.— Susan Kohl Malone, lead author, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
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