The less you sleep, the worse you eat

Welcome to this edition's?Sleepletter?where we offer you easy-to-read insights from the latest research papers from the field of?sleep neurobiology?and clinical?sleep medicine. We hope you enjoy the content!

Do we eat worse quality food when we sleep poorly?

Humans love food. Sometimes we eat too much of it, especially during festive periods of the year. Most of us also love a good night’s sleep, especially after a long and tiring day, even though a third of adults don’t get enough of it. Studies have shown that sleeping habits (short sleep) may actually influence the quality and quantity of the food we eat. Not to mention that short sleep has an influence on physical and mental health leading to increased risk for cardiometabolic and neurological disorders, obesity, anxiety, depression and a host of other conditions. In adults, poor sleep increases caloric intake leading to weight gain in the long term. But, it is not all about the quantity of food. Some research suggests that sleep restricted humans eat more carbohydrates and sugars, which could have a harmful effect on health. Furthermore, the timing of eating also plays an important role. As explained in the previous Sleepletter, eating during nighttime (shift work) can have a detrimental effect on the alignment of the central and peripheral circadian rhythm. Most of these studies have been done in adults, so the replicability of these in adolescents, on the other hand, is not as clear.

Research published in the journal SLEEP examined a population of 93 healthy adolescents to see how short sleep impacts the quality, quantity and timing of the food consumed. The participants were randomized into two groups which underwent the following conditions for 5 days: short sleep (6.5 hours of sleep) and healthy sleep (8.5 hours in bed). After that, the groups switched the amount of sleep they were getting. The adolescents who slept shorter ate more grams of carbohydrates and added sugars. The consumption of foods with higher glycemic load (generally more processed food) and servings of sweet drinks also increased. On the other hand, consumption of fruits and vegetables decreased in short sleepers. Interestingly, the differences in consumption of fat, carbs and kilocalories emerged only after 9 pm. Overall, similar to adults, adolescents who do not get enough sleep seem to consume more unhealthy food, especially late at night. This might happen more often than thought of since more than 70% of adolescents are sleep restricted during school days (2). Therefore, decisive action is needed to improve the duration of sleep in this subpopulation, because of both mental and physical consequences of chronic poor sleep quality that may arise later in life.

(1) Original study:?https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34919707/

(2) American Academy of Pediatrics:?https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/13792

***

Have anything on your mind about the article? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below for a productive discussion or contact Alen directly.

About the author

Alen Juginovi? is a medical doctor and?postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA studying the effect of poor sleep quality on health. He is also organizing international award-winning projects such as Nobel Laureate conferences, international congresses, concerts and other, as well as participating in many events as a speaker. Feel free to contact him via LinkedIn for any inquiries.