Weight, diet may influence quality of sleep

Weight status and protein intake predicted differing lengths of sleep stages, according to findings presented at the SLEEP 2016 annual meeting.

Andrea M. Spaeth, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues assessed various energy balance parameters and their effect on sleep architecture.

According to the abstract, 36 healthy adults slept at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for 2 consecutive nights of 10 hours of time in bed. The researchers recorded polysomnography, sleep stage duration, weight, body composition, resting energy expenditure and food and drink intake.

Results showed that resting energy expenditure, body fat percentage and BMI did not predict sleep stage duration.

Speath and colleagues reported that overweight adults spent more time in REM stage sleep than adults with healthy weights (27.6± 3.4% vs. 24.2 ± 3.7%; P = .007).

In addition, increased protein intake predicted less time spent in stage 2 sleep ( = –0.54; P = .003) and more time spent in REM sleep ( = 0.41; P = .038).

"Weight status and protein intake may influence baseline sleep architecture in healthy adults," the researchers concluded. "Future research is needed to examine if manipulating protein intake affects REM sleep duration and to identify the biological mechanisms underlying this relationship."

"In a culture of increasing pressure to sacrifice sleep to maintain productivity, this research adds to the body of knowledge on how lifestyle behaviors may influence the quality of our sleep," Spaeth said in a press release. – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Reference:

Spaeth AM, et al. Energy balance predictors of baseline sleep architecture. Presented at: SLEEP Annual Meeting 2016; June 11-15; Denver.

Disclosures: The study was supported by NIH R01 NR004281, F31 AG044102; CTRC UL1RR024134; Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (Award No. N00014-11-1-0361).