Seven to eight hours of sleep a night is associated with a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and reduced overall cardiometabolic risk in adults

Abstract

Background: Previous studies looking at the relationship between sleep duration and the metabolic syndrome have only used a dichotomous approach (presence/absence) and failed to adjust for important confounding factors. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between self-reported sleep duration and features of the metabolic syndrome in adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis from the Quebec Family Study (Canada) was conducted on 810 participants aged 18 to 65 years. Participants were categorized as short (≤6 h), adequate (7-8 h) or long (≥9 h) sleepers. The metabolic syndrome was defined according to the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's criteria.

Results: Overall, 24.6% of the sample had the metabolic syndrome. A U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (33.3%, 22.0% and 28.8% in short, adequate and long sleepers, respectively) was observed (P<0.01). Only short sleepers had a significant increase in the odds of having the metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.08-2.84) compared to adequate sleepers after adjustment for age, sex, smoking habits, highest education level, total annual family income, alcohol consumption, coffee intake, menopausal status, daily caloric intake, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Likewise, the clustered cardiometabolic risk score (i.e. continuous risk score based on the metabolic syndrome components) was significantly higher in short sleepers compared to adequate sleepers after adjustment for covariates (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Sleeping ≤6 h per night is associated with an elevated cardiometabolic risk score and an increase in the odds of having the metabolic syndrome after adjusting for possible confounders. These results strongly suggest that short sleep duration is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome.

Figure 1. Clustered cardiometabolic risk score between sleep duration groups.

Legend: Data are presented as mean values with standard errors of the mean. Clustered cardiometabolic risk scores between sleep duration categories were compared by analysis of covariance, followed by a Tukey post-hoc test to contrast mean differences. The model was adjusted for age, sex, smoking habits, highest education level, total annual family income, alcohol consumption, coffee intake, menopausal status, daily caloric intake, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as covariates. P<0.05 for the ANOVA analysis. *P<0.05 vs. adequate sleepers. Short sleepers (≤6 h of sleep per night; n = 90), adequate sleepers (7–8 h of sleep per night; n = 571), and long sleepers (≥9 h of sleep per night; n = 149).