Forget the golden threshold of eight hours of sleep, you only really need seven hours, 19 minutes and 12 seconds.

If you sleep for this precise length of time, you are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, which 6.3 million Brits are currently at risk for in the UK.

Diabetes already affects 5.8 million people in the UK, of which 90% are living with type 2, and 1.3 million are thought to be living with it but are yet to be diagnosed.

Adjusting your sleep schedule to fit in exactly 7.32 hours of sleep, which equates to the aforementioned time, has been found to ward off insulin resistance which causes the disease.

The new study published in the British Medical Journal of Open Diabetes Research and Care studied data on 23,475 Americans and tracked their sleep and their estimated glucose disposal rate (eDGR), which points to your level of insulin resistance.

This is because when the insulin in our body isn’t at a high enough level, it causes the level of glucose (sugar) in our blood to become too high, resulting in diabetes.

To calculate someone’s eDGR, you must take a person’s blood sugar levels after fasting, their waist circumference and their blood pressure.

The study’s findings showed that any less sleep than the seven hours and 19 minutes, or any more sleep, both impacted your insulin resistance.

Say goodbye to weekend lie-ins

Sadly, the researchers also found that catching up on sleep at the weekend wasn’t good for everyone.

While 48% of those studied did lie-in on Saturdays or Sundays, this extra sleep only benefitted a select few.

For those sleeping less than the optimal 7.32 hours during the week, one to two hours of extra sleep at the weekend was good for them, giving them a higher eGDR.

This means they were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes because they didn’t have excess sugar in their blood.

Sadly though, for those who had the 7.32 hours they need on weekdays, if they then had an extra two hours or more of sleep on the weekends they had a lower eGDR – meaning they were at greater risk for insulin resistance and therefore diabetes.

The scientists wrote: ‘[Extra sleep is] beneficial only in moderation and specifically for those with weekday sleep debt, whereas it may be detrimental for those who already sleep sufficiently.’

However, if you’re trying to cut your chances of a heart attack or a stroke, a 2024 study found that people who got the most extra sleep at the weekends reduced their risk by 19%.

Researchers concluded catching up on sleep at the weekends is linked to lower rates of heart disease, especially among those who are sleep deprived.

So really, having that extra hour of sleep at the weekend isn’t all that bad.

The 3-2-1 rule that could give you a better night’s sleep

Wellness expert Nicola Elliott, who has worked in the wellbeing industry for nearly 20 years, has developed a 3-2-1 rule which she claims will improve your sleep.

This could help you get that golden seven hours, 19 minutes and 12 seconds you really need.

Despite being a simple and straightforward routine, it might take a little getting used to at first.

Essentially, it starts three hours before you go to bed, stipulating a different thing to avoid beyond each time frame.

First off, three hours before bed, you discontinue all food and drink consumption for the day. Alcohol is included in this rule, but water or non-stimulating herbal teas are allowed.

Then, two hours before bed is when you stop doing any work or strenuous exercise.

Finally, an hour before you go to bed, you switch off the screens (yes, that means putting your phone away) and also dim the lights in the room.

These steps mean that our blood sugar will stabilise before bed, we don’t have endorphins from exercise which increase our brain activity, and light from screens doesn’t signal to our bodies we should be awake.

Voila! A solid recipe for a better night’s sleep.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.