People Who Sleep Less Drink More
Earlier this week I blogged about the possible deleterious impact that sleep deprivation, alcohol intake and TV watching can have on food intake. Now a paper by Jean-Phillipe Chaput and colleagues from the University of Ottawa, published in the APPETITE, suggests that sleep deprivation in turn may contribute to increased alcohol consumption. This cross-sectional study looked at the association between sleep duration and alcohol consumption in adults (301 men and 402 women aged 18 to 64 years) from the greater Quebec City area. Participants categorized as short- (⩽6 h), compared to average- (7-8 h) or long- (⩾9 h) duration sleepers, consumed significantly more alcohol and had greater odds of odds of exceeding the recommendations for sensible weekly alcohol intake of 14 drinks for men and 7 drinks for women, even after adjusting for relevant confounders. While this relationship was evident in both sexes, binge drinking (i.e. ⩾5 drinks on one occasion) was more common in men than women. Thus, men sleeping less than 6 hours per night with a disinhibited eating behavior were more likely to report binge drinking (41%). Based on these findings the authors suggest that the combination of short sleep duration with disinhibited eating behavior is associated with greater alcohol intake in adults, findings that can certainly further explain the strong relationship between not getting enough sleep and weight gain. Perhaps counselling patients on sleep hygiene may do more for them than asking them to simply eat less and move more. AMS Edmonton, Alberta Chaput JP, McNeil J, Després JP, Bouchard C, & Tremblay A (2012). Short sleep duration is associated with greater alcohol consumption in adults. Appetite PMID: 22841812 .
Unique Mattress Provides Deep Sleep For Heavy Sleepers
One of the things I love most about my job is the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of projects, all aimed at improving the lives of individuals living with severe obesity. After hearing persistent complaints from my patients about their inability to find suitable beds or mattresses that would easily bear their considerable weight, I began to pursue the idea of finding a mattress manufacturer, who may be able to design a mattress that would meet their needs. It turns out that I did not have to look very far. Right here in Edmonton, Araam Inc. manufactures a range of standard and custom made mattresses. Surprisingly enough, this company even holds a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, making them the only bed manufacturer to actively supply the British Royal Family and the Royal Household with their Hypnos brand of mattresses (also found around the world in the finest palaces, estates and hotels). Our project started with focus groups in which several of my patients and ergonomy experts from the Canadian Obesity Network met with the mattress folks in their West-Edmonton showroom to first discuss the limitation of current mattresses and determine the specifics of an ideal ‘bariatric’ mattress for home use. Based on the input from this focus group Araam then produced five prototypes from a wide range of materials and specifications, which was followed by another in-house focus group session to test the prototypes. However, given the wide range of shapes and sizes of 250+ lb individuals with varying dimensions around the upper, mid and lower section of their bodies, it turned out that the prototype that felt great around the head and shoulders, was too firm around the butt. The prototype that felt great around the calves and feet was too soft in the mid section. It soon became clear that any single mattress would simply not be good enough. For this Araam came up with a novel solution: a mattress that consists of three separate sections, each of which can be chosen to suit the specific dimensions and needs of each body section. The final product is then fused together into a single mattress that exactly meets the individual needs of each client. With four materials to chose for each section (memory foam, memory foam plus, latex, gel), each providing a different level of support, aeration, and firmness, clients can literally… Read More »
Alcohol, Sleep Deprivation and TV Watching Drive Overeating
Regular readers are well aware that I am more interested in the ‘whys’ of why people eat than in the ‘whats’ of what they eat. Now a paper by Colin Chapman and colleagues from Upsalla University, Sweden, published in the American Journal of Nutrition, looks at the key lifestyle drivers of overeating, with a particular focus on TV watching, sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption as studied in controlled laboratory settings with healthy volunteers. Their search of the literature yielded 8 television studies, 5 sleep studies, and 10 alcohol studies. All three of these factors had significant effects on food intake in the laboratory setting with alcohol having the strongest effect, followed by sleep deprivation and TV viewing. With regards to the possible mechanisms on how these behaviours affect food intake, the authors have the following to offer: Alcohol consumption: “Alcohol is known to induce alterations in circulating ghrelin, a peptide implicated in food reward. In addition, alcohol affects g-aminobutyric acid and opioid systems. The alteration of g-aminobutyric acid signaling in reward centers of the brain stimulates appetite, and opioid signaling has been implicated in regulating the orosensory reward components of eating. These pharmacologic findings are consistent with human studies that showed a greater increase in hunger during the early phase of a test meal after an alcohol preload compared with an energymatched carbohydrate preload. This mimics the pattern of response shown when the palatability of food is enhanced through flavor manipulation.” Sleep Deprivation: “There is similar evidence that links sleep deprivation to an increase in the hedonic value of food. Sleep loss causes a constellation of metabolic and endocrine changes, including an increase in circulating ghrelin. Interestingly, recent studies on sleep deprivation have found that it increases overall brain response to palatable food image. In particular, short sleep increased activation in brain areas involved in reward processing, such as the putamen, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. This strongly suggests that sleep deprivation, like alcohol, leads to deregulation of reward system activation in response to food.” TV Watching: “Several of the studies included in the meta-analysis found that the effect of television viewing on food intake was most pronounced with high-calorie foods, which suggests that television viewing alters the saliency of food reward. Epidemiologic studies have shown a similar trend, in that those who watch more television tend to snack more while watching and to consume more energy-dense… Read More »
Obesity A to Zzzzzzzzzs
Regular readers are well aware of the increasing evidence that points to a major role for sleep deprivation in the current obesity epidemic. Indeed, one of the most evident societal changes coinciding with the epidemic spread of excess weight is the significant reduction in sleeping hours – in both kids and adults. Now a study by Orfeo Buxton and colleagues from Harvard University, published in Science Translational Medicine, shows just how profoundly sleep restriction and disruption of sleep cycles can affect your metabolism. The experiments were designed to tested the hypotheses that prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption, as can occur in people performing shift work, impairs glucose regulation and metabolism. Healthy adults were recruited to spend at least five weeks under controlled laboratory conditions in which they experienced an initial baseline segment of optimal sleep, three weeks of sleep restriction (5.6 hours of sleep per 24 hours) combined with circadian disruption (recurring 28-hour “days”), followed by 9 days of recovery sleep with circadian re-entrainment. Not only die sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption markedly decrease participants’ resting metabolic rates but these interventions also increased plasma glucose concentrations after a meal, due to reduced pancreatic insulin secretion. Nine days of recovery sleep normalized all of these changes. Interestingly enough, a recent study by Korean researchers, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, looking at the relationship between sleeping patterns and body weight in almost 1,000 school children (48.2% boys) aged 10 or 11 found that, after adjusting for relevant confounding variables (age, sex, breakfast eating, screen time and parental obesity), longer sleep on weekdays and weekends was associated with 30% decreased odds of excess weight. Perhaps, more importantly (and in line with the Harvard study), kids who slept little during the week but managed to catch up on their sleep deficit on the weekends also had a lower risk of excess weight. Together these findings support the notion that sleep hygiene may be an important target for intervention in weight management and, at a population level, may well be an issue that may deserve as much attention and discussion as health eating and physical activity. Is it time for a Canada Sleep Guide? AMS Calgary, Alberta Buxton OM, Cain SW, O’Connor SP, Porter JH, Duffy JF, Wang W, Czeisler CA, & Shea SA (2012). Adverse metabolic consequences in humans of prolonged sleep restriction combined with circadian disruption. Science translational… Read More »
Sleep Restriction Activates Brain Centres That Regulate Appetite
Regular readers will be well aware of the emerging evidence that quality and amount of sleep can have profound effects on eating behaviour and may well be an important factor in the development of obesity. A study by Marie-Pierre St-Onge and colleagues from Columbia University, New York, in a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to examine the effect of sleep restriction on brain regions sensitive to food stimuli. The researchers studied 30 healthy, normal-weight men and women for a 2-phase inpatient crossover study in which they spent either 4 h/night (restricted sleep) or 9 h/night (habitual sleep) in bed. Overall neuronal activity in response to food stimuli was significantly greater after restricted sleep than after habitual sleep, particularly in areas associated with reward, cognitive processing, decision-making, and self-control, including the putamen, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, insula, and prefrontal cortex. The findings of this study link restricted sleep and susceptibility to food stimuli and are consistent with the notion that reduced sleep may lead to greater propensity to overeat. “These changes associated with reduced sleep apparently affect brain regions known to be linked to motivation and desire and may indicate an increased propensity to seek food in individuals who are not getting enough sleep. These actions, in a world where food is readily accessible, would promote weight gain. Overall, these findings suggest that changes in neuronal activity in response to food stimuli after insufficient sleep are precursors to energy balance regulation mechanisms in the brain.” Certainly more evidence that lack of sleep may be driving those cravings and impulsive eating that could be contributing to weight gain. AMS Edmonton, Alberta St-Onge MP, McReynolds A, Trivedi ZB, Roberts AL, Sy M, & Hirsch J (2012). Sleep restriction leads to increased activation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli. The American journal of clinical nutrition PMID: 22357722 .
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