Although a growing body of studies has revealed the effects of sleep deprivation on the risk of obesity in the body, experimental evidence is very limited and there are no studies related to the distribution of body lipids. Recently, a research report entitled "Effects of Experimental Sleep Restriction on Energy Intake, Energy Expenditure, and Visceral Obesity" published in the international journal Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Scientists from institutions such as the Mayo Clinic have found that sleep deprivation and free eating may increase the body's calorie consumption, resulting in fat accumulation, especially unhealthy fats in the abdomen.
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In this randomized controlled crossover study conducted by the researchers, they found that lack of adequate sleep may increase the body's overall abdominal fat area by 9% compared with the participants in the control sleep group, increase the amount of abdominal visceral fat by 11%, and visceral fat will accumulate around the internal organs deep in the abdomen, and is closely related to the occurrence of cardiac and metabolic diseases; the researchers said that lack of adequate sleep is often a behavioral choice of the human body, and this choice is becoming more and more common today. More than a third of adults in the U.S. don't get enough sleep, in part because of shifts or shifts, or the use of smart devices and social networks during traditional sleep times, and in addition, people tend to eat more during longer waking hours without increasing physical activity.
Researcher Virend Somers said that the results of this paper show that even in subjects of age, health and relatively thin, the shortening of sleep time is related to the increase in the body's calorie intake, while the increase in body weight is smaller, and the fat accumulation level in the body's abdomen is also significantly increased. Under normal circumstances, fat is preferentially deposited under the skin, however, insufficient sleep seems to divert fat to more dangerous visceral areas, and importantly, although the body's calorie intake and weight will decrease during the recovery of sleep, the amount of visceral fat will increase, which may indicate that lack of sleep is a precipitating factor that scientists did not recognize before, and at least in the short term, sleep supplementation does not seem to reverse the accumulation of visceral fat, and in the long run, these findings may indicate Lack of sleep is a contributing factor to the prevalence of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disease.
In the study, the researchers recruited 12 healthy and non-obese individuals, each participant completed a 21-day study course in an inpatient setting, participants were randomly assigned to a control group (normal sleep) or sleep restriction group in one session, and reversed two groups in the next course, followed by three months of treatment; throughout the study, each participating group of individuals had free access to food, and then the researchers monitored and measured their body's energy intake, energy expenditure, weight, body composition, Fat distribution, including visceral fat or abdominal fat, as well as circulating appetite biomarkers.
The first 4 days of the study were an adaptation period during which all participants were allowed to sleep in bed for 9 hours, and over the next two weeks, the participants' sleep was limited to 4 hours, while the control group was kept for 9 hours, followed by 9 hours of bed during the recovery period of 3 days and 3 nights; compared with the adaptation phase, the participants consumed more than 300 calories per day and consumed about 13% more protein and 17% fat during the sleep restriction phase. This increase in consumption is highest in the early stages of sleep deprivation, however it gradually decreases to the level of the beginning during the recovery period, while energy expenditure remains essentially unchanged throughout the process.
Dr. Covassin said that the accumulation of visceral fat can only be detected by CT scans, otherwise it will be ignored, especially since the weight gain is quite mild, only about one pound; in terms of the health consequences of sleep deprivation, just measuring weight may be wrongly reassuring, and equally worrying is the potential impact of repeated sleep deprivation, that is, the gradual and cumulative increase in fat in the body over many years. For those who can't easily avoid sleep interruptions (such as shift workers), there may be some behavioral interventions to consider, such as increasing exercise and healthy food choices; and later researchers need to conduct more research to determine whether these findings in healthy young people are related to high-risk populations, such as those who are already obese or have metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
In summary, the results of this paper show that the combination of sleep deprivation and free eating may promote excessive energy intake in the body, but also does not change the body's energy expenditure, weight gain, especially the central accumulation of fat may reveal that lack of sleep can lead to obesity in the abdominal viscera.
Original source:
Naima Covassin，Prachi Singh，Shelly K.McCrady-Spitzer, et al. Effects of Experimental Sleep Restriction on Energy Intake, Energy Expenditure, and Visceral Obesity, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.01.038