Sleep and obesity

Sleep and obesity

Insufficient sleep duration has been increasingly recognized as an important risk factor for obesity (1):

• cohort sleep duration has been associated with obesity in numerous epidemiological studies
  • however, such association studies cannot establish evidence of causality
  • clinical intervention studies, on the other hand, can provide information on a causal effect of sleep duration on markers of weight gain: energy intake and energy expenditure
    • a randomised controlled trial (n=80 adults, habitual sleep <6.5 hrs/night) found 2-week sleep extension (SE) intervention (extend bedtime to 8.5 hrs) reduced daily energy intake by about 270 kcal vs vs control (p<0.001)(2)
      • due to no significant effect on total energy expenditure, weight decreased in SE group
      • findings suggest that improving and maintaining adequate sleep duration could reduce weight and be a viable intervention for obesity prevention and weight loss programs

Reference:

1. St-Onge MP. Sleep-obesity relation: underlying mechanisms and consequences for treatment. Obes Rev. 2017;18(suppl. 1):34-39. doi:10.1111/obr.12499
2. Tasalii E, Wroblewski K, Kahn E, Kilkus J, Schoeller DA. Effect of Sleep Extension on Objectively Assessed Energy Intake Among Adults With Overweight in Real-life Settings: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(4):365-374. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.8098