Sorry dads! Science says moms need that extra shut-eye more than you

It’s Sunday morning and somebody needs to get up to check on the kids, take the dog out and get the breakfast started. Should it be mom or dad? According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, it makes more sense for dad to take the early morning shift.

Turns out extra sleep may help prevent diabetes in healthy women while men who get too much sleep may have an increased risk of diabetes. The reasoning has to do with insulin sensitivity and its relationship to sleep.

ALSO SEE: Feeling tired? 70 per cent of Canadians don’t get enough sleep, survey says

“In the past decade, over three dozen studies reported a relationship between self-reported short sleep and disturbed glucose metabolism,” explains the abstract for the study. Scientists wanted to confirm that this was true and also determine whether the effect was the same for both men and women.

Looking at 788 middle-aged participants across Europe with an average night’s sleep of 7.3 hours, they found than women showed a decrease in insulin sensitivity, which increased their risk of diabetes when faced with sleep deprivation. Conversely, men’s sensitivity decreased when they got too much sleep.

ALSO SEE: The 5 worst morning habits for your health (and how to fix them!)

“Our results suggest that compared with average sleep duration, short or long sleep duration have deleterious effects in healthy men, whereas in women, short and long sleep duration are associated with better glucose metabolism.”

What do you think of this study? Do you suffer from sleep deprivation? Let us know by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA.