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Adding sleep coaching to a diabetes prevention program helps people sleep better — but don't expect it to move the needle on blood sugar. A new study found that while sleep quality and daytime sleepiness improved significantly, glucose levels stayed the same. One surprising finding: going to bed earlier — regardless of how long you sleep — was independently linked to greater weight loss.
A new randomized controlled trial published in Nursing Research tested whether adding sleep coaching to a standard diabetes prevention lifestyle program could improve outcomes for adults with prediabetes and habitually short sleep. The result: it helps you sleep better, but it won't lower your blood sugar.
Researchers from New York University assigned 196 participants to either an eight-week lifestyle intervention or a lifestyle-plus-sleep intervention. Both groups saw similar improvements in sleep duration and weight loss — but the sleep coaching group reported significantly better sleep quality and less daytime sleepiness. Glucose control, measured by time spent above 140 mg/dL, showed no meaningful difference between groups.
The study's most intriguing finding came from a post hoc analysis: when people fell asleep — not just how long they slept — was independently associated with greater weight loss, regardless of which group they were in.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: For clinicians managing prediabetes, this study signals that sleep timing may be an underappreciated lever for weight and metabolic health — and worth asking patients about beyond just sleep quantity.
