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Glucose control upon waking is unaffected by hourly sleep fragmentation during the night, but is impaired by morning caffeinated coffee

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2020

Harry A. Smith
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Aaron Hengist
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Joel Thomas
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Jean-Philippe Walhin
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Philippa Heath
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Oliver Perkin
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Yung-Chih Chen
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Javier T. Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
James A. Betts*
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
*
*Corresponding author: James A. Betts, email j.betts@bath.ac.uk
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Abstract

Morning coffee is a common remedy following disrupted sleep, yet each factor can independently impair glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in healthy adults. Remarkably, the combined effects of sleep fragmentation and coffee on glucose control upon waking per se have never been investigated. In a randomised crossover design, twenty-nine adults (mean age: 21 (sd 1) years, BMI: 24·4 (sd 3·3) kg/m2) underwent three oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT). One following a habitual night of sleep (Control; in bed, lights-off trying to sleep approximately 23.00–07.00 hours), the others following a night of sleep fragmentation (as Control but waking hourly for 5 min), with and without morning coffee approximately 1 h after waking (approximately 300 mg caffeine as black coffee 30 min prior to OGTT). Individualised peak plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were unaffected by sleep quality but were higher following coffee consumption (mean (normalised CI) for Control, Fragmented and Fragmented + Coffee, respectively; glucose: 8·20 (normalised CI 7·93, 8·47) mmol/l v. 8·23 (normalised CI 7·96, 8·50) mmol/l v. 8·96 (normalised CI 8·70, 9·22) mmol/l; insulin: 265 (normalised CI 247, 283) pmol/l; and 235 (normalised CI 218, 253) pmol/l; and 310 (normalised CI 284, 337) pmol/l). Likewise, incremental AUC for plasma glucose was higher in the Fragmented + Coffee trial compared with Fragmented. Whilst sleep fragmentation did not alter glycaemic or insulinaemic responses to morning glucose ingestion, if a strong caffeinated coffee is consumed, then a reduction in glucose tolerance can be expected.

Information

Type
Full Papers
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020
Figure 0

Fig. 1. (a) Time course plasma glucose and (b) time course plasma insulin response to an oral glucose load following a habitual night of sleep (Control), a night of fragmented sleep (Fragmented) or sleep fragmentation + caffeinated coffee (Fragmented + Coffee). *P < 0·05. , Coffee/boiled water; , control; , fragmented; , fragmented + coffee. OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test.

Figure 1

Table 1. Summary of participant characteristics(Mean values and standard deviations)

Figure 2

Table 2. Peak and time to peak glucose and insulin values in each condition alongside Matsuda insulin sensitivity index (ISI)(Mean values and normalised confidence intervals calculated from individual peak and time to peak values)