Why Not Sleeping Enough Makes Some People Gain Weight

Regular readers of these pages will be well aware of the recent slew of evidence suggesting that not getting enough sleep is an important risk factor for weight gain (as anyone who works shifts probably knows from their own experience).

But, as always, not everyone appears to be equally affected.

A paper by Jean-Philippe Chaput and colleagues from the University of Ottawa, just published in SLEEP, suggests that sleep deprivation may especially tend to promote weight gain in people who tend to be disinhibited eaters.

Based on the examination of 276 adults aged 21 to 64 years and followed for 6 years in the Quebec Family Study, Chaput and colleagues found that individuals having both short sleep duration (loss than 6 hours a night) and high disinhibition eating behaviour (as assessed by the three factor eating questionnaire) were more likely to gain weight and increase their abdominal circumference over time.

In contrast, short-duration sleepers with a low disinhibition eating behavior trait had the same weight trajectory as those with average sleep duration.

Over the 6-year follow-up period, the incidence of overweight/obesity for short-duration sleepers with a high disinhibition eating behavior trait was 2.5 times more frequent than for short-duration sleepers with a low disinhibition eating behavior trait.

This increased risk of high disinhibition in short-duration sleepers was largely explained by higher caloric intake.

For those of us still dealing with leftovers from yesterday’s turkey, getting enough sleep may help with any ‘disinhibition’ we may experience when opening the refrigerator.

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta

Chaput JP, Després JP, Bouchard C, & Tremblay A (2011). The Association between Short Sleep Duration and Weight Gain Is Dependent on Disinhibited Eating Behavior in Adults. Sleep, 34 (10), 1291-7 PMID: 21966060