Results suggest that achieving sufficient nightly sleep should be an essential component of obesity prevention and weight-management programs.
A recent study shows that teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight ate higher proportions of fatty foods and snacks than adolescents who slept eight hours or more. The results suggest that short sleep duration may increase obesity risk by causing small changes in eating patterns that cumulatively alter energy balance, especially in girls.
Results show that shorter mean weekday sleep duration was significantly associated with an increase in the percentage of calories consumed from fats and a decrease in the percentage of calories from carbohydrates.
The study also found a relationship between sleep duration and snacking. For each one-hour increase in sleep duration, the odds of consuming a high amount of calories from snacks decreased by an average of 21 percent.
Analyses of sleep duration and timing of nutrient intake revealed that a significantly greater proportion of teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight consumed food in the early morning between 5am and 7am.
Altered timing of eating in shorter sleepers also may be a metabolic stress that contributes to metabolic dysfunction, say the researchers.
The authors also noted that it is unclear why the association between shorter sleep durations and unhealthy dietary habits may be stronger in girls than boys. However, one explanation may be the increased propensity for female teens to engage in emotional eating.
Further research is still needed to understand how gender may modify the relationship between sleep, stress, metabolism and eating behaviours. It is believed that reductions in sleep duration may alter metabolic rate and affect the production of leptin and ghrelin, two hormones that regulate appetite. Sleep restriction also may provide increased opportunities to eat, initiate stress responses that promote reward-seeking behaviours such as eating and reduce the physical and motivational drive to exercise.
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