Sleep is crucial for both metabolic health and athletic performance

How well, and how long, did you sleep last night? It’s an important question, because in its Sleep Manifesto 2024, The Sleep Charity notes that a whopping 43% of adults sleep less than the NHS-recommended seven to nine hours.

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The report further states that prolonged poor sleep is associated with various adverse outcomes like ‘cancer, type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease and increases in all-cause mortality.’

Sleep restriction also significantly impairs glucose clearance, potentially exacerbating insulin resistance (IR), a prevailing condition under experimental sleep deprivation; disrupts fat cell function, contributing to a decrease in whole-body insulin sensitivity; and causes muscle protein synthesis rates to drop, which could lead to muscle loss over time.

To address the implications of sleep-deprived IR, exercise has emerged as a potential solution by enhancing insulin sensitivity in various tissues. In a recent major review of published evidence in the journal