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Weekend 'recovery sleep' fails to prevent weight gain, improve insulin sensitivity
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Sleeping in during weekends to “catch up” on missed sleep during the week will not prevent weight gain or improve a reduction insulin sensitivity associated with sleeping less than 5 hours per night, according to findings from a small cohort study published in Current Biology.
“This study demonstrates that catch up sleep over the weekend is not sufficient and is still associated with the metabolic consequences of short sleep in young, healthy people,” Robert H. Eckel, MD, professor of medicine in the divisions of endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes and cardiology at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, told Endocrine Today. “The food intake is still higher and the insulin sensitivity is reduced in participants with weekend recovery sleep. At least one weekend of catch-up sleep does not seem to get the job done when you have only slept 5 hours per night for the week before. Metabolic correction does not occur quickly.”
Eckel and colleagues analyzed data from 36 healthy adults aged 18 to 39 years who agreed to spend overnights in the sleep lab for 2 weeks and undergo assessments of sleep, light exposure and food intake. After baseline testing, researchers randomly assigned participants to one of three sleep groups: sleep restriction of 5 hours per night for 9 days without weekend recovery sleep (n = 14), sleep restriction of 5 hours per night for 5 days followed by weekend recovery sleep and then 2 days of restricted sleep (n = 14), and a control group with 9-hour sleep opportunities for 9 nights (n = 8).
Both sleep-restricted groups snacked more at night, gained weight and experienced declines in insulin sensitivity during the study period, according to the researchers. Participants assigned to the weekend recovery sleep group experienced mild improvements in measures, including decreased total energy intake and reduced nighttime snacking during the weekend; however, those benefits did not persist after a return to the sleep-restricted workweek.
Researchers observed no between-group differences in energy intake during breakfast, lunch and dinner, with all three groups increasing their intake during ad libitum meals. However, the increased energy intake only led to weight gain in the sleep restriction and weekend recovery groups.
“Even though participants in the [weekend recovery] group had decreased total and after-dinner energy intake during the weekend, weight gain during recurrent insufficient sleep was similar to that found in participants in the [sleep restriction] group,” the researchers wrote. “These findings indicate that weekend recovery sleep does not mitigate the excess energy intake and weight gain that occur during recurrent insufficient sleep following the weekend.”
In the sleep-restricted group, whole-body insulin sensitivity declined by 13% during the study period, whereas in the weekend recovery group, hepatic and muscle insulin sensitivity worsened by 9% to 27%, according to researchers.
“In our study, weekend recovery participants chose to stay up late at night and sleep-in until noon or 1 p.m. on the weekends,” researcher Christopher M. Depner, PhD, assistant professor at the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Endocrine Today. “In essence, this is similar to working on the East Coast, flying to the West Coast for the weekend, and then flying back to the East Coast for work on Monday. This is termed ‘social jetlag,’ and we believe this social jetlag in our study contributed to the reduction in liver and muscle insulin sensitivity after weekend recovery sleep in our participants.”
The researchers also found that participants in the sleep recovery group experienced delayed circadian timing after 2 days of ad libitum recovery sleep, increasing the chance of waking up on Monday morning during the biological night and inducing morning circadian misalignment, consistent with social jetlag.
“To prevent the development of metabolic disorders like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, we must prioritize healthy sleep as part of our lifestyle,” Depner said. “We cannot sacrifice sleep and maintain our health in the long term.” – by Regina Schaffer
For more information:
Christopher M. Depner, PhD, can be reached at the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, 3100 Marine St., Room A29, Boulder, CO 80309; email: Christopher.depner@colorado.edu.
Robert H. Eckel, MD, can be reached at the Cardiac and Vascular Center-Anschutz, 12605 E. 16th Ave., Third Floor, Aurora, CO 80045; email: Robert.eckel@ucdenver.edu.
Disclosures: Depner reports no relevant financial disclosures. Eckel reports he serves on advisory boards for Kowa and Sanofi/Regeneron. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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