Late, but Not Early, Night Sleep Loss Compromises Neuroendocrine Appetite Regulation and the Desire for Food
Open accessAbstract
Objective: There is evidence that reduced sleep duration increases hunger, appetite, and food intake, leading to metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. However, the impact of sleep timing, irrespective of its duration and on the regulation of hunger and appetite, is less clear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of sleep loss during the late vs. early part of the night on the regulation of hunger, appetite, and desire for food. Methods: Fifteen normal-weight ([mean ± SEM] body-mass index: 23.3 ± 0.4 kg/m2) healthy men were studied in a randomized, balanced, crossover design, including two conditions of sleep loss, i.e., 4 h sleep during the first night-half (‘late-night sleep loss’), 4 h sleep during the second night-half (‘early-night sleep loss’), and a control condition with 8h sleep (‘regular sleep’), respectively. Feelings of hunger and appetite were assessed through visual analogue scales, and plasma ghrelin and leptin were measured from blood samples taken before, during, and after night-time sleep. Results: Ghrelin and feelings of hunger and appetite, as well as the desire for food, were increased after ‘late-night sleep loss’, but not ‘early-night sleep loss’, whereas leptin remained unaffected by the timing of sleep loss. Conclusions: Our data indicate that timing of sleep restriction modulates the effects of acute sleep loss on ghrelin and appetite regulation in healthy men. ‘Late-night sleep loss’ might be a risk factor for metabolic diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Thereby, our findings highlight the metabolic relevance of chronobiological sleep timing.
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Sleep loss after repeated hypoglycemia could prevent hypoglycemia unawareness.
“Although sleep loss or a short sleep duration has negative effects on glucose metabolism, appetite, and hunger [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], sleep loss after repeated hypoglycemia could prevent hypoglycemia unawareness.”
From Hypoglycemia Unawareness—A Review on Pathophysiology and Clinical Implications (2024) · cites this paper as [32]
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- Authors
- Meyhöfer, S., Chamorro, R., Hallschmid, M., Spyra, D., Klinsmann, N., Schultes, B., Lehnert, H., Meyhöfer, S. M., & Wilms, B.
- Affiliations
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DE)
- University of Chile (CL)
- Helmholtz Munich (DE)
- University of Lübeck (DE)
- University of Salzburg (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Meyhöfer, Sebastian M.
- Venue
- Nutrients
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2023-04-23
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2035
- ISSN
- 2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10181094
- OpenAlex
- W4366827389
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 6
- FWCI
- 1.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PuSH - Publication Server of Helmholtz Zentrum München (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Universidad de Chile (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (TR-SFB 654, TR-SFB 134, 01GI0925, BECAS-CHILE 74170072, 0278/2022)
- German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (TR-SFB 654, TR-SFB 134, 01GI0925, BECAS-CHILE 74170072, 0278/2022)
- Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (TR-SFB 654, TR-SFB 134, 01GI0925, BECAS-CHILE 74170072, 0278/2022)
- Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Desarrollo (VID)¸ Universidad de Chile (TR-SFB 654, TR-SFB 134, 01GI0925, BECAS-CHILE 74170072, 0278/2022)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- sleep timing, sleep deprivation, appetite regulation, hunger, ghrelin, leptin, desire to eat, chronobiology, metabolic disorders, obesity, type 2 diabetes
- MeSH terms
- Appetite Regulation, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Male, Obesity, Sleep, Leptin, Ghrelin
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