Coordinated human sleeping brainwaves map peripheral body glucose homeostasis

Insufficient sleep impairs glucose regulation, increasing the risk of diabetes. However, what it is about the human sleeping brain that regulates blood sugar remains unknown. In an examination of over 600 humans, we demonstrate that the coupling of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep spindles and slow oscillations the night before is associated with improved next-day peripheral glucose control. We further show that this sleep-associated glucose pathway may influence glycemic status through altered insulin sensitivity, rather than through altered pancreatic beta cell function. Moreover, we replicate these associations in an independent dataset of over 1,900 adults. Of therapeutic significance, the coupling between slow oscillations and spindles was the most significant sleep predictor of next-day fasting glucose, even more so than traditional sleep markers, relevant to the possibility of an electroencephalogram (EEG) index of hyperglycemia. Taken together, these findings describe a sleeping-brain-body framework of optimal human glucose homeostasis, offering a potential prognostic sleep signature of glycemic control. [Display omitted] •Coupled NREM sleep brainwaves predict superior next-day glucose control in two cohorts•This sleep-glucose association is partially mediated by autonomic activity•Sleep may regulate glycemic status selectively via insulin sensitivity•NREM brainwaves thus offer a glycemic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target Vallat et al. demonstrate that the coupling of human slow oscillations and spindles during sleep predicts next-day insulin-dependent glucose regulation, suggesting a central sleep biomarker of metabolic homeostasis that supports peripheral glycemic equilibrium.