Sleep and Weight

About Weight

  • In the US, 1 out of every 3 adults are estimated to be overweight or obese
  • Overweight individuals have 36% higher annual medical expenses

Obesity causes and contributes to many different diseases. Therefore, reducing weight can not only improve quality of life, but can reduce the chance of early disability and death. Treatment options are improving all the time and include: dietary therapy, physical activity, behavioral therapy, drug therapy, surgery, or some combination of these.

Not only can obesity contribute to sleep problems, but sleep disorders can also increase the chance of weight gain, and make it harder to lose weight.

About Sleep and Weight

  • Chronic sleep deprivation changes the levels of the hormones that control eating in a manner that promotes gaining weight.
  • Having sleep apnea can make it very difficult to lose weight.
  • Being overweight/obesity is one of the most important risk factors for sleep apnea.

Sleep problems are common in people who are overweight. For example, 40 % of those who are overweight also have sleep apnea (a frequent closing of the throat while sleeping). Some symptoms of sleep apnea may include:

  • Snoring
  • Daytime sleepiness
  • Waking up gasping for breath
  • Long pauses in breathing during sleep

Sometimes its impossible to tell which problem came first. People with sleep apnea are often tired, fatigued, and sleepy. This commonly leads to low activity levels and also more eating in an effort to get more energy. Of course, this tends to make these folks gain more weight, which may lead to more severe sleep apnea! It’s a vicious cycle.

Research has shown that short sleep reduces leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and increases ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite. Poor sleep can also cause or contribute to impaired regulation of glucose, insulin, and cortisol levels, which are directly related to weight control.

On the positive side, some studies have shown a remarkable reduction in sleep apnea and improved sleep with weight loss. Most dramatically, weight loss surgery (lab banding, gastric bypass, etc.) eliminates sleep apnea in up to 80% of patients once they reach their goal weight.

References

Arch Intern Med. 1994 Aug 8;154(15):1705-11.
Sleep apnea and sleep disruption in obese patients.
Vgontzas AN, Tan TL, Bixler EO, Martin LF, Shubert D, Kales A.

Hypertension. 2003 Dec;42(6):1067-74. Epub 2003 Nov 10.
Obesity, sleep apnea, and hypertension.
Wolk R, Shamsuzzaman AS, Somers VK.

JAMA. 2000 Dec 20;284(23):3015-21.
Longitudinal study of moderate weight change and sleep-disordered breathing.
Peppard PE, Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J.

Ann Intern Med. 1985 Dec;103(6 ( Pt 1)):850-5.
Weight loss in mildly to moderately obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea.
Smith PL, Gold AR, Meyers DA, Haponik EF, Bleecker ER.

 

Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Institutes of Health

WebMD

 

BMI Calculator