Sleep Patterns Tied to Post-Bariatric Surgery Outcomes

TOPLINE:

Among women at least 1 year after bariatric surgery, longer rapid eye movement (REM) sleep duration was associated with lower body fat percentage, whereas symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing were linked to a higher waist to hip ratio.

METHODOLOGY:

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of women who underwent bariatric surgery at least 1 year earlier to examine the associations between sleep measures and body weight, body composition, and components of energy balance.
Sleep was measured over 7 days using a wrist-worn accelerometer to capture parameters including duration, efficiency, and timing; in-home polysomnography was used to quantify sleep-stage duration and the apnea-hypopnea index as measures of sleep-disordered breathing.
Anthropometrics measurements were obtained; participants completed food diaries to estimate energy intake, and wrist-worn actigraphy was used to estimate activity energy expenditure.
Food reward and bias toward high-fat or sweet foods was assessed using the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire, and fasting appetite was measured with visual analog scales.

TAKEAWAY:

The 22 participants (mean age, 53.5 years; mean BMI, 35.5; mean relative fat mass, 44.9%) regained an average of 10.6% of their nadir weight.
Longer REM sleep duration correlated with lower body fat percentage (correlation coefficient [r], -0.52; P = .02).
Participants with symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing had a higher waist to hip ratio (adjusted mean difference, 0.09; P = .01) and higher fasting prospective food consumption (adjusted mean difference, 19.25; P = .03) than those without symptoms.
Greater sleep duration variability was associated with higher fasting prospective food consumption (r, 0.47; P = .03).
Longer sleep duration was inversely correlated with activity energy expenditure and associated with greater explicit liking for sweet foods.

IN PRACTICE:

“REM sleep duration and absence of sleep-disordered breathing may play beneficial roles in reducing obesity risk via lower body fat percentage and central adiposity. Achieving better sleep quality with regular duration and timing may also confer benefits via reductions in feelings of appetite and preferences for low-fat sweet foods which align with dietary recommendations after surgery,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Hannah R. Koch, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was published online in Obesity.

LIMITATIONS:

The cross-sectional design prevented conclusions about causality or directionality between sleep measures and weight outcomes. The study relied on self-reported weight histories to calculate regain and could not assess how associations changed over time or were influenced by post-surgical metabolic effects. The small sample size limited generalizability.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding source was reported. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.