Sleep Deprivation May Impact Calorie Intake

According to a new study, sleep deprivation can lead to consuming a greater number of calories throughout the next day.

Noting that studies investigating the effects of partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on energy balance components report conflicting findings, investigators established an objective to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of human intervention studies assessing the effects of PSD on energy intake and energy expenditure. The team of researchers evaluated the results of 11 studies with a total of 172 participants. The authors' analysis included studies that compared a partial sleep restriction intervention with an unrestricted sleep control, measuring individuals' energy intake over the following 24 hours.
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Ultimately, the investigators found that PSD did not have a substantial impact on the energy that individuals expended in the 24-hour span studied, and thus they determined that participants saw a net energy gain of 385 calories per day. In addition, the authors saw a slight shift in the foods that sleep-deprived individuals ate. These participants had proportionately higher fat intake and lower protein intake but demonstrated no change in carbohydrate intake.

The study has wider implications. "We need to do more research into sleep as a possible remediable risk factor for obesity and possibly other cardiometabolic diseases like diabetes, especially in today's society, in which trends are showing that people sleep less," said Gerda K. Pot, PhD, MSc, BSc, a lecturer in nutritional sciences in the Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Division at King's College London, and senior author of the study.

The team that carried out this study is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial in habitually short sleepers to explore the effects of sleep extension on indicators of weight gain, Dr Pot said, adding that the team has also applied for further funding to expand this feasibility study into a large-scale, randomized controlled intervention study.

"So, for now," she said, "health practitioners can [advise] their patients to make sure they get sufficient sleep, besides [maintaining] a healthy and balanced diet."

—Mark McGraw

Reference
Al Khatib HK, Harding SV, Darzi J, Pot GK. The effects of partial sleep deprivation on energy balance: a systematic review and meta-analysis [published online November 2, 2016]. Eur J Clin Nutr. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2016.201.