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This Article Full Text (Publish Ahead of Print[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: 90/6/1476    most recent ajcn.2009.27984v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Schmid, S. M Articles by Schultes, B. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schmid, S. M Articles by Schultes, B. Agricola Articles by Schmid, S. M Articles by Schultes, B.

Short-term sleep loss decreases physical activity under free-living conditions but does not increase food intake under time-deprived laboratory conditions in healthy men^1,2,3,4

¹ From the Departments of Internal Medicine I (SMS, BW, HL, and BS), Neuroendocrinology (MH and JB), and Psychiatry (KJ-C), the University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany; the Department of Neuroscience and Functional Pharmacology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (CB); and the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center, St Gallen, Switzerland (BS).

² The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft had no influence on the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

³ Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, KFO 126 ("Selfish Brain").

⁴ Address correspondence to SM Schmid, Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Luebeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, House 32, 23538 Luebeck, Germany. E-mail: sebastian.schmid{at}uk-sh.de.

ABSTRACT

Background: Short sleep duration is correlated with an increased risk of developing obesity and cardiovascular disease, but the mechanisms behind this relation are largely unknown.

Objective: We aimed to test the hypothesis that acute sleep loss decreases physical activity while increasing food intake, thereby shifting 2 crucial behavioral components of energy homeostasis toward weight gain.

Design: In 15 healthy, normal-weight men, spontaneous physical activity was registered by accelerometry during the entire experiment, and food intake as well as relevant hormones were assessed during a 15-h daytime period after 2 nights of regular sleep (bed time: 2245–0700) and after 2 nights of restricted sleep (bed time: 0245–0700). Experiments were performed in a crossover design.

Results: Sleep restriction significantly decreased physical activity during the daytime spent under free-living conditions after the first night of sleep manipulation (P = 0.008). Also, intensities of physical activity were shifted toward lower levels, with less time spent with intense activities (P = 0.046). Total energy intake, feelings of hunger, and appetite as well as ghrelin and leptin concentrations during day 2 remained unaffected by acute sleep restriction.

Conclusions: In contrast to our expectation, short-term sleep loss neither increased food intake nor affected concentrations of the hunger-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin. However, the observed decrease in daytime physical activity may point to another potentially important behavioral mechanism for the health-impairing influence of sleep loss.

Received for publication April 26, 2009. Accepted for publication September 20, 2009.